My sister's in town this week. It's such a stark contrast in lifestyle - she got married a few years back, just bought a condo in Toronto and is killing it as a PR person for Pharma companies in an agency. I bet she's easily earning 3-4 times my salary. She's super smart - I always tell my friends she's the person I could have been if only I liked following rules and decided to play the "career" game. She's winning the game for sure. It's funny to compare and contrast, because I'm loving my life but like everyone I have my preoccupations. Most of mine are inter-relational stuff. Fluid relationship dynamics, very close friendships and fun projects are in the center of my life right now as opposed to career and money. And sometimes I wonder if I'm not just occupying my mind, with doing projects, maintaining and managing all these relationships just to keep busy. But then I have an amazing weekend with friends and would not trade it for the world. Feeling super privileged in my position, but sometimes quite disconnected from the "real" world since it feels not many people can allow themselves my lifestyle. Like I found a perfect little rare pocket of weirdness, and I'm scared ( or in a way, I know for sure) it won't last for too long. Life will change - and either I'll move on, or the people around me slowly will and I'll stay stuck in the times. Probably the former, but when the status quo is good, it's hard to not notice its fragility. As a side note, was at at this lady's 50th birthday party last weekend. And TWO motherfucking (older) ladies just french kissed me without asking. Didn't feel too predatory, more of a boring housewife vibe, that used to be kind of attractive so is unaware of the concept that not everyone is happy to get their covid germs. Really irked me. And it's funny that I'm convinced a guy would have NEVER acted in this way towards me. My friend Erik (who is 45ish) actually stepped in to back me up after one of the ladies kept arguing with me that is was not about consent but "cultural differences" I did not understand since she's french. She didn't help her case - I might be more pissed at her assuming I'm not familiar with "cultural differences" as a well traveled person, born in Montreal that has gone to a Quebecois primary school, a French Lycée for all of high school, Russian school on the weekends and then an Anglo Cégep. URGHhh
I'm one of two people on the project who aren't actively sick with COVID or were exposed to COVID, and the other guy can't work the labs. Everyone's been vaccinated, so that's at least some small comfort, but holy shit if there hasn't been a worse time for this to happen. Not in a whiny entitled "why does this extra work happen to me!" but more like "we hit a snag, everyone's sick and unable to help even if they could, and I'm vastly under-qualified to be the de facto brains of this operation." And I could keep the things running, if they were running. Instead, I'm working back from the first principles to see why/if the model doesn't work, and since I never done gaseous phase reaction like that it's straining my grasp of statistical physics. Like, the kind of SP I've been using for the last three years was almost exclusively about inert things close to absolute zero, ya know? Oddly, this side-project is the most 'lost' I've felt since the phd programme started, so I guess it's gonna be a good exercise. Sink or swim, bitch!
I strategically let it slip in a Zoom meeting with some of my management team that I won't be with my current employer come January 1... and then moved the conversation along, because I didn't want to derail the meeting and have that become the topic under discussion. "Yeah, I agree, I want to get rolling on that work now, and gett that knowledgebase built right away, because by January 1st I wont be in this role any more." I have about a dozen resumes out circulating right now, but that's mostly performative. I've never gotten a job from my resume - it's just too weird for people to grok. Every job I've ever gotten was through a personal recommendation. The most interesting opportunity I came up with is with Wizards of the Coast, the makers of Magic The Gathering and oodles of other games. I'd be responsible for working directly with creatives who are making digital assets for the various games, and managing a database of these assets so internal resources can find what they need easily and quickly, or order the creation of the asset from one of my artists. Working directly with creatives, to get art made, and then ensuring the processes and tools are in place for internal teams to find and make use of those assets is a nice blend of teamwork, interaction with creatives, and tech tool geekery that fits my interests perfectly! And Wizards is a local success story, and apparently a groovy place to work, too.
Were you dropping a hint so that they would have additional time to prepare for your exit? You say it was strategic so just wondering what the goal was. I know that when someone hands in their notice in my current place, and they are good at their job, there is usually some counter-offers or conversations that happen to see if the person will agree to stay. This is good if you want to stay, or were looking for a raise. But if I intend to leave anyway then its better to reduce these discussions and drama to a minimum. My plan, should i decide to leave is to book 3-4 days vacation time, and then hand in my notice as it begins, by the time I get back I would have avoided much of the drama and it would be old news.
By saying my hint was "strategic", I was meaning that it wouldn't come completely as a surprise when I give them my 2 weeks notice. I do the job of 3 people, and sit at the confluence of Product, Sales, and Customer Service. If I were to poof out of existence tomorrow, they would have to scramble to fill my role. If I were to poof out of existence at the end of January, the whole sales organization would be fucked, because that's when the "season" for my work starts, and it ramps up VERY fast. But we get a TON of paid vacation in November and December. (One of the benefits of being owned by a German company, is they value their family holidays very highly.) I also have about a month of PTO available to me. And this company tends to cut people out pretty quickly. Someone gives 2 weeks notice, and by the end of the day - sometimes end of the week - they are no longer in the office or reachable. There are some security concerns around our products and services that make it prudent for the company to disable the accounts of employees pretty quickly, rather than continue letting them have access to the company's data and resources. So yeah... I think I'll give them notice on January 3.
Started on adding foreground color to the trees. We are going to Puerto Rico for a few days next month. That will be the first flying vacation since before times. Looking forward to it. Here's something I am looking for: Decentralized storage, doesn't need to be persistent, can be very small (as little as a few MBs), but needs to be free.
ouhh merci le gouvernement! Been seeing more and more friends taking good grants for studies. Now that I'm not too young to be considered under my parents care, I've been slowly considering going back to school eventually. But I'd need to figure out what I'd want to study first. Wacha in for?
Do any runners out there have suggestions for running tights that are super thin for weather where it's barely too cold for shorts? I started my new job this week. So far so good. They're going to three days minimum in the office in January. I'd love to be home full time, but I don't mind this. If nothing else, I like their clarity on it. My old job changed guidance three or four times, and it hasn't even been implemented yet.