MY NEW BEST FRIEND

Everyone's been asking me how the new job has been. Well, I gotta say that the 40-mile commute has been bearable. I've learned so much in just three days. For example, if I leave Glendale at 7:15 am, I'll get to Thousand Oaks at 8:30 am. If I leave at 6:30 am, I can get there at 7:20 ON A GOOD DAY, and 7:30 on a bad one. I left Thousand Oaks at 5:10 pm on Monday and got to Glendale at 6:10. The next day I left at 4:40 and STILL got home at 6:10. Today I left at 4:05 and got to Burbank at 5:10. So, what is the moral of the story? The moral is I work freakin' far and it doesn't matter jack squat what time I leave because I'll ALWAYS HIT TRAFFIC! Hahaha...I put gas in my car on Sunday and my next fill was...TODAY. Wow....

Other than the drive, which, if you get beyond the insanity that is Southern California traffic, is actually kinda nice, especially when you get to the mountains. I had a moment this morning, driving between the green and mahogany hills, going at about 65 mph, with “Breakaway” playing in the car. I thought about how different this Wednesday was from last Wednesday, and I asked myself to be patient. If there’s anything good that comes out of these commutes, it’s my alone time, which these days is rare.

So, I get in 30 minutes before anyone in my department (which is just me, my boss Bob, Barbara and Kirsten). I don’t have to answer phones or get things done by a certain time during the day and…it’s soo chill! I don’t hate it. I’m just not used to it. I went from doing something every minute of every 8-hour day, to waiting for someone to hand me something to do. I found myself kinda restless today, truth be told. But I guess it comes with this new position I’m in. They're still trying to figure out how to work me into their system.

Any new buddies? Well, aside from my department and of course, Grandma Kay, who I’ve lunched with these last two days, I’ve really only gotten close to one. We’ve been hanging out, working together since I got there. Every morning we go through data (ALL KINDS!) and compile it in proper little tables. Been so helpful to me this week and I have a feeling we’ll be tackling this job of mine together for as long as I’m there. Maybe you’ve met. My homie’s name is EXCEL! Seriously, I have never worked with Excel so much in my soon-to-be 28 years of life! And when they said in the interview that I’d be helping compile reports, THEY WEREN’T LYING!

Anyhow, so far so good. Thanks to everyone for their well-wishes!