Thursday, May 6, 2010

midway through week one

Well so far I made it! The job is hectic, to say the least. I don't know a thing, and I feel totally incompetent. The insurance world is full of so many acronyms, abbreviations, and foreign terminology that I am having trouble remembering words that I once knew! I now think it's a good thing that my boss-to-be has not been in this week, as it's given me a chance to get through some other things, including lots of 'training' that they keep having me do amidst the confusion.

My desk is kind of out in the middle of a floor, which also can make it awkward since I don't know what I'm doing, and a lot of the office machinery is outdated and simplified compared to what I've used in the past, counting both the offices of ten and twenty years ago AND the school copy machines. But I've found most of the others who are in similar positions to mine to be surprisingly well educated and well spoken, which is not what I expected and has been a refreshing surprise for a little field office set in the middle of nowhere.

Yesterday I signed into my gmail to send a mail to my boss since I don't have my own login with the company yet (I had to be processed and fingerprinted first) and found a notification from the teacher sub system, I was assigned to a job starting on Monday! They had, in desperation, assigned me to teach a fifth grade class all week next week! So I felt terribly guilty for having been caught in my non-removal mode from the list, and had to call the secretary and explain. I had to wait until I got outside so the office wouldn't hear me call the job a temp job, but I didn't want to imply to the school that it's permanent either, just in case they boot me out. I don't want to burn that bridge because it might be hard to get back across again if I need that option!

But it was a little melancholy to see that. I love being in the schools, but I don't like the instability and definitely not the uncertainty and the reduced pay for next year. While this is costing me in the short run (I would have made about $100+ more next week alone) my hope is that it will pay off in the long run, and it's certainly more steady and consistent.

And the best part of the new job so far has been having an excuse to buy new, nice clothes. I don't think I have done this in fifteen years.

Meanwhile, Brian continues to plod through his studies, and school ends for him exactly one month from tomorrow. We're waiting on a few grades from this past week (or he says we are, sometimes I wonder) but progress reports are due out tomorrow. Last time I thought all was well he ended up with twice as many bad reports, so I know not to get too placid regarding this final quarter's reports. I guess we'll know by Monday. They mail them out.

As for Megan, she took her AP Calculus exam yesterday and said it was really hard. She has the US History one tomorrow, and English next week. She is getting upset because she has not heard one word from her top choice (this week) school's swim coach so I'm trying to steer her in other directions. I guess it's a good lesson to have this happen because she will realize that she can't assume things are going to go the way she hopes, and she'll open herself up to more options. If this school doesn't give her a fair amount of aid, there's no way we can afford to send her there, even if she does get in. Also unknown are her more recent SAT scores, which are due online in 14 days.

In other news, the weather has been lovely, and the pool will be opened on Saturday. Megan has the junior prom tomorrow night, following her first haircut in nearly a year, so we'll be off taking pictures for that. I hope we don't all forget about Brian and his tennis! On a related note, we saw on Facebook that E was tagged in a prom picture, and she looked ghastly (by her standards). The wind was blowing her hair around, her face was twisted, and she was holding her dress up in what seemed to be wind. Within a day the tag on the photo was gone but the damage was done, and I was on the trail. So I sent her a message asking where the rest of the photos were, but I haven't yet heard back. And that, for now, is all I have.

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