The beginning & the end... all rolled into one. (January 7, 2008)
December seemed present for but a brief flicker in time, as the end of an eventful 2007 came to a close. Many of those close to me had a fairly rough year comprised of unexpected fall outs, financial stress due to a slowing economy and random acts of bad luck. I was no exception to these things, as all those who read my postings already know. Despite the trials, I believe we have all entered into this new year better then we were just twelve short months before. Sure, the market is still sitting at rock bottom and there are still some dark clouds on the horizon from time to time... but the company I keep always seems to be learning, growing and changing for the better. It rubs off on me... and maybe it's just called "growing up"... but either way, I'm happy for it. I may say this every year, but that doesn't make it untrue. Once again, I'm happier and more comfortable in my own skin and with my place in the Universe then I've ever been before. It doesn't mean that my luck's changed; it simply means that I'm more at peace with everything that does and (perhaps more importantly) does not happen to me.
Now for the official Tanya update for the masses. On December 11, 2007, I was laid off from the law firm that I'd bragged about so often as I got friends into the Enzian for free and drank beer and wine at the office parties while still getting paid. This was the same firm where the work had slowed and after repeating the same work day after day for over two years, I became restless and bored. Out of guilt for letting me go right before Christmas, they offered me a severance package that was more than fair. I spent approximately 80% of the twenty remaining days of the year in Daytona at Jason's house. On the 26th, I was offered a job at another law firm downtown. The pay was higher, the position was more challenging and they asked me to start on January 2nd. Getting back to work sooner would mean that all my bills and debts were paid. The lay off became a blessing in disguise as Jason and I bonded and got into the holiday spirit together. I used the extra time to visit with my mother and grandmother in South Florida and my step mom (and very briefly, my brother) in Deltona. Jason's bands had a couple of gigs. I worked on my photography. We shared a few meals with his mother. We helped her with her tree. I played with Hershey in the back yard. He sang and played guitar for me in the mornings. It all made me wish I could be unemployed forever. I enjoy living in downtown Orlando... I just wish Jason's house could be picked up and moved over here, too. Alright before I go off on a mushy tangent, let me get back to Christmas. Before I was sure that I'd have a paycheck coming in, I made the decision to keep my holiday expenses to a minimum. I didn't even send out cards this year (so that just means I'll have to make up for it on all of your birthdays in '08!). However, there were some wonderful surprises. The Boyfriend, of course, came in first place with a collection of thoughtful gifts that showed how closely he'd been listening over the past few months. Tied for second was Adrienne who sent a fabulous mobile with black and white photos taken in Chicago for use at our Chicago themed Christmas party. (Ironically, she sent it to make up for the photos that we thought I lost from my trip to visit her last year.) As well as Maribel, who took me on a long awaited "date" to Hue for dinner. Then the family members all took the bronze with a new jewelry box, some earrings, Bath & Bodyworks products and a digital photo frame. I felt blessed despite the hard times many of us have fallen on at some point during the previous year. The following week was the big party. Five of my Orlando dwelling friends made the drive to Daytona to join in the fun. While I think that my mini Chicago dogs were the biggest hit of the night, others will probably agree that is was the Secret Santa gift exchange, or as James dubbed it: The "Explosion of the Walmart $5 DVD Bin". One of the five made it the whole night and ended up saying for movie number one of the Lord of the Rings Director's Cut Marathon that began at 11:00 AM the next morning. Jonathan was quite a trooper. Jason made us all a hearty second breakfast and I prepared my own version of a hobbit stew for the dinner intermission between the second and third movies. I am pretty sure that it was the longest Sunday of my entire life. I sincerely enjoyed spending time with The Boy and his closest friends... and I certainly enjoyed this unplanned vacation from work. Said vacation concluded with one of the bands playing an early New Year's Eve show and Jason and I booking it to Deland to ring in the new year with Heather & James at Cafe Davinci. 2008 began with a smooch under the Christmas lights to some 80's cover song I can't remember followed by good conversation over beer and wine with friends. If I had to choose a single word to describe my overall 2007 holiday experience, I would pick "content"... only because "happy" would have been too easy and the most obvious choice. ;-)
As if the Universe wanted to test my claim to being more at peace with my being, the first half week at my new place of employment was rather stressful. There was really only one point at which I felt the weight of that stress, but I'll get to that in a moment. In an effort to save time, I will just provide highlights of my observations made at the new office (Fear not, dear friends, there will be more to follow, as always!).
1. I'm only about 2 minutes farther from home, but I get a longer lunch break.
2. Parking in a garage and then walking two blocks has made me aware of why women in NY with longer commutes on foot wear sneakers with their suits.
3. Working on Orange Avenue near all the bars that I once frequented at night is eerie, almost surreal, but makes me feel like a REAL city girl (or as close as one can get in FL).
4. Being a part of a smaller office doesn't have all the big corporate perks, but it's more personal and more relaxed... the attorneys act like normal people.
5. They gave me work the second hour I was there and it hasn't stopped since. I've been surprisingly efficient despite not knowing where anything is or exactly how to do it. The variety of work that I will be doing is going to exercise my brain and force me to actually apply myself again rather then just going through the motions simply to pay the bills.
6. On Friday, I enlisted the help of my old neighbor, Jordan, who moved to WI rather abruptly a few weeks ago. Having Dept. of Corrections experience, he helped me locate a felon's case online which will lead to my attorney tracking down the deadbeat dad of a crack baby so that it can be adopted by a new family. For the first time in many, many years... I feel like I worked on something that did some good in the world.
7. Also on Friday, I drove as quickly as I possibly could down the four levels of the parking garage after running up the stairs thanks to a broken elevator. As I opened the ashtray lid in my center console to grab my access card to get through the gate, it slipped between the cracks and vanished into my car. Enter stress. After backing up and failing to be able to follow another car out, not being able to lift the gate manually with my brute strength (ha) and unable to find a security guard or cop... I waited patiently in the side security parking area nearly 20 minutes, eventually busting out Dukes of Hazard style through the entrance gate (which had a little wider of a lane) a split second after someone finally drove in. There may have been sparks, but I couldn't tell you because it all happened so fast.
Only me, right? Luckily, Heather and Danita were ready to meet me for dinner and drinks... so really, it was nothing a night of girl talk couldn't fix. Take that, Universe!
All's well that ends well, right? With that, let us say goodbye to 2007. I hope that all those I care about are off to a great '08, whether the ride's been bumpy or smooth... all that matters is that we're enjoying and appreciating all of it for what it is.
Now for the official Tanya update for the masses. On December 11, 2007, I was laid off from the law firm that I'd bragged about so often as I got friends into the Enzian for free and drank beer and wine at the office parties while still getting paid. This was the same firm where the work had slowed and after repeating the same work day after day for over two years, I became restless and bored. Out of guilt for letting me go right before Christmas, they offered me a severance package that was more than fair. I spent approximately 80% of the twenty remaining days of the year in Daytona at Jason's house. On the 26th, I was offered a job at another law firm downtown. The pay was higher, the position was more challenging and they asked me to start on January 2nd. Getting back to work sooner would mean that all my bills and debts were paid. The lay off became a blessing in disguise as Jason and I bonded and got into the holiday spirit together. I used the extra time to visit with my mother and grandmother in South Florida and my step mom (and very briefly, my brother) in Deltona. Jason's bands had a couple of gigs. I worked on my photography. We shared a few meals with his mother. We helped her with her tree. I played with Hershey in the back yard. He sang and played guitar for me in the mornings. It all made me wish I could be unemployed forever. I enjoy living in downtown Orlando... I just wish Jason's house could be picked up and moved over here, too. Alright before I go off on a mushy tangent, let me get back to Christmas. Before I was sure that I'd have a paycheck coming in, I made the decision to keep my holiday expenses to a minimum. I didn't even send out cards this year (so that just means I'll have to make up for it on all of your birthdays in '08!). However, there were some wonderful surprises. The Boyfriend, of course, came in first place with a collection of thoughtful gifts that showed how closely he'd been listening over the past few months. Tied for second was Adrienne who sent a fabulous mobile with black and white photos taken in Chicago for use at our Chicago themed Christmas party. (Ironically, she sent it to make up for the photos that we thought I lost from my trip to visit her last year.) As well as Maribel, who took me on a long awaited "date" to Hue for dinner. Then the family members all took the bronze with a new jewelry box, some earrings, Bath & Bodyworks products and a digital photo frame. I felt blessed despite the hard times many of us have fallen on at some point during the previous year. The following week was the big party. Five of my Orlando dwelling friends made the drive to Daytona to join in the fun. While I think that my mini Chicago dogs were the biggest hit of the night, others will probably agree that is was the Secret Santa gift exchange, or as James dubbed it: The "Explosion of the Walmart $5 DVD Bin". One of the five made it the whole night and ended up saying for movie number one of the Lord of the Rings Director's Cut Marathon that began at 11:00 AM the next morning. Jonathan was quite a trooper. Jason made us all a hearty second breakfast and I prepared my own version of a hobbit stew for the dinner intermission between the second and third movies. I am pretty sure that it was the longest Sunday of my entire life. I sincerely enjoyed spending time with The Boy and his closest friends... and I certainly enjoyed this unplanned vacation from work. Said vacation concluded with one of the bands playing an early New Year's Eve show and Jason and I booking it to Deland to ring in the new year with Heather & James at Cafe Davinci. 2008 began with a smooch under the Christmas lights to some 80's cover song I can't remember followed by good conversation over beer and wine with friends. If I had to choose a single word to describe my overall 2007 holiday experience, I would pick "content"... only because "happy" would have been too easy and the most obvious choice. ;-)
As if the Universe wanted to test my claim to being more at peace with my being, the first half week at my new place of employment was rather stressful. There was really only one point at which I felt the weight of that stress, but I'll get to that in a moment. In an effort to save time, I will just provide highlights of my observations made at the new office (Fear not, dear friends, there will be more to follow, as always!).
1. I'm only about 2 minutes farther from home, but I get a longer lunch break.
2. Parking in a garage and then walking two blocks has made me aware of why women in NY with longer commutes on foot wear sneakers with their suits.
3. Working on Orange Avenue near all the bars that I once frequented at night is eerie, almost surreal, but makes me feel like a REAL city girl (or as close as one can get in FL).
4. Being a part of a smaller office doesn't have all the big corporate perks, but it's more personal and more relaxed... the attorneys act like normal people.
5. They gave me work the second hour I was there and it hasn't stopped since. I've been surprisingly efficient despite not knowing where anything is or exactly how to do it. The variety of work that I will be doing is going to exercise my brain and force me to actually apply myself again rather then just going through the motions simply to pay the bills.
6. On Friday, I enlisted the help of my old neighbor, Jordan, who moved to WI rather abruptly a few weeks ago. Having Dept. of Corrections experience, he helped me locate a felon's case online which will lead to my attorney tracking down the deadbeat dad of a crack baby so that it can be adopted by a new family. For the first time in many, many years... I feel like I worked on something that did some good in the world.
7. Also on Friday, I drove as quickly as I possibly could down the four levels of the parking garage after running up the stairs thanks to a broken elevator. As I opened the ashtray lid in my center console to grab my access card to get through the gate, it slipped between the cracks and vanished into my car. Enter stress. After backing up and failing to be able to follow another car out, not being able to lift the gate manually with my brute strength (ha) and unable to find a security guard or cop... I waited patiently in the side security parking area nearly 20 minutes, eventually busting out Dukes of Hazard style through the entrance gate (which had a little wider of a lane) a split second after someone finally drove in. There may have been sparks, but I couldn't tell you because it all happened so fast.
Only me, right? Luckily, Heather and Danita were ready to meet me for dinner and drinks... so really, it was nothing a night of girl talk couldn't fix. Take that, Universe!
All's well that ends well, right? With that, let us say goodbye to 2007. I hope that all those I care about are off to a great '08, whether the ride's been bumpy or smooth... all that matters is that we're enjoying and appreciating all of it for what it is.
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