Many of my colleagues that have made an international transfer have given the same warning:
“It will go fast.”
How they speak the truth.
This debacle started in December with the mere suggestion that one phone call could get me to France. This news was a bit flooring (few have the luck to get an overseas assignment). After accepting and going through the process, it was February. Many things have happened: negotiations, moving companies, transitions at work, meeting up “for the last time”, property listings, and taking an inventory of everything important in my life.
Wednesday or Thursday my visa should arrive (maybe another story?). Friday, the plane departs for Paris. Saturday and Sunday I discover a new time zone and Monday work begins. I get weird looks for taking such a short path, with not too much time to complete everything. Tasks expand in perceived complexity as the timeframe extends. Apparently, my journey is beginning to look like evidence in favor of this statement. I do not have much time to stew about everything to accomplish.
Simply, I must accomplish.
This experience is a good lesson. Though, tight timelines can be stressful if you are punctual, they can also get you to accomplish more. Once you start making progress, the successes are encouraging. And nothing better to get you started then having to start. Necessity is the mother of invention. Invention must also have a brother, initiative.
Speaking of, time to get packing.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
The Beret
Everything has its cost. Flight to Paris, renting an apartment, visas, brand new suits, and yes, your last day at the office.
My coworkers are great. Only slight was the embarrassment, but all of it in good fun. Tacky, yet masterful, decoration of the cubicle, farewell complete with bread and cheese, pie (not cake, mind you), and items that they do not have in Paris, such as Oreos and peanut butter (who knew?). But there was one more item.
The beret.
This is no ordinary beret. This beret has white top, blue band, and red (orange-ish, clown-ish) puff ball. This beret is now the price of visiting.
Now, I will not make anyone wear said beret all the time. That would be mean.
I have heard of people taking pictures all over the world with various objects. Some friends of mine had a penguin, or as they called him, “el penguin”. I remember el penguin being lost, not sure how. Really, I was not there and it is best to move on from these things.
Just remember that penguins cannot fly (especially stuffed penguins).
At any rate, I think the new beret will be said object. So, the price of admission to either a stay in the heart of Paris or a tour guide that semi-speaks French: one beret photo. This is a small price, but I think it will be fun. Who knows, maybe I’ll forget it and “c’est la vie.”
Don’t get your hopes up.
My coworkers are great. Only slight was the embarrassment, but all of it in good fun. Tacky, yet masterful, decoration of the cubicle, farewell complete with bread and cheese, pie (not cake, mind you), and items that they do not have in Paris, such as Oreos and peanut butter (who knew?). But there was one more item.
The beret.
This is no ordinary beret. This beret has white top, blue band, and red (orange-ish, clown-ish) puff ball. This beret is now the price of visiting.
Now, I will not make anyone wear said beret all the time. That would be mean.
I have heard of people taking pictures all over the world with various objects. Some friends of mine had a penguin, or as they called him, “el penguin”. I remember el penguin being lost, not sure how. Really, I was not there and it is best to move on from these things.
Just remember that penguins cannot fly (especially stuffed penguins).
At any rate, I think the new beret will be said object. So, the price of admission to either a stay in the heart of Paris or a tour guide that semi-speaks French: one beret photo. This is a small price, but I think it will be fun. Who knows, maybe I’ll forget it and “c’est la vie.”
Don’t get your hopes up.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Cleanliness
On a particularly easy to guess website where you shop for roommates you are asked what level of cleanliness you maintain. If memory has not failed me, it is something around dirty, moderate, and neat freak. When you are showing your condo, you must enter the neat freak.
Being a neat freak is not bad if you were born with the appropriate neural pathways. As an added bonus, there is no major known moral obligation to shed your orderly ways. Neat freak, I salute you. Someone has to be this way, and thankfully it is you.
This is good, because it is not me.
Now, however, I must reach the Zen-like state of constant attention to detail. No more may my work bag carelessly sleep on the couch. Gone are the days of having a dirty dish in the sink. Unfolded laundry?! Inexistent.
For someone without the neural wiring of a neat freak this constant attention to detail is rough. It is a new job to learn. It is time out of the day better spent doing the things I talked about last post. Worse, it is plain not fun.
On the other had, there is a certain pleasure to coming home to an absolutely clean house. This feeling is new and it is helping me understand some of the neat freaks I know a bit better. In fact, there may even be hope of conversion.
But don’t hold your breath.
Being a neat freak is not bad if you were born with the appropriate neural pathways. As an added bonus, there is no major known moral obligation to shed your orderly ways. Neat freak, I salute you. Someone has to be this way, and thankfully it is you.
This is good, because it is not me.
Now, however, I must reach the Zen-like state of constant attention to detail. No more may my work bag carelessly sleep on the couch. Gone are the days of having a dirty dish in the sink. Unfolded laundry?! Inexistent.
For someone without the neural wiring of a neat freak this constant attention to detail is rough. It is a new job to learn. It is time out of the day better spent doing the things I talked about last post. Worse, it is plain not fun.
On the other had, there is a certain pleasure to coming home to an absolutely clean house. This feeling is new and it is helping me understand some of the neat freaks I know a bit better. In fact, there may even be hope of conversion.
But don’t hold your breath.
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