The Great Change of 2017

Changes might be more like it.

When last I updated, my boss had told me she'd planned on retiring at the end of June and moving up to Alaska to be with her new girlfriend. The time came and went, and the crown was passed to me. I had hoped this would result in a promotion from my supervisor position, but it did not. Instead, they hired a senior specialist to do project management and more of the executive stuff. I wasn't exactly thrilled, but the person they hired was someone we'd been working with for the past two years on a systemwide initiative, and a former employee. She also happened to be an awesome person from whom I could learn a lot, so it ended up working out.

I got about as large of an annual increase as I'd hoped in June as well, which took me off of scouring LinkedIn for other jobs.

And then a few weeks in, I realized something else. I was so much calmer and felt less antagonized. My boss, who was wonderful in many respects, was also, I think, somewhat threatened by me, and seemed to never hesitate to make little digs or contradict things I would say in meetings simply to assert her authority. I would also hear about her badmouthing me in management meetings even though everyone relies on me as an uber-subject matter expert. Without her nipping at my heels and myself at the helm, I no longer had this layer of unpleasantness lightly coating each work day.

I can also take a PTO day here and there at my leisure since I'm the boss, applesauce. And my team (with the exception of one problem child who is like my bratty teenage daughter) is fabulous.

The other big change is that I finally bit the bullet and went to church. It's the nice, modern church that prides itself on being welcome to everyone. I've enjoyed most of the sermons, and joined an introduction to Christianity group that meets once a week for four weeks. I keep scouring the materials and waiting for some token of anti-gayness to creep in, but thus far, nada. I still feel a bit odd saying I'm a Christian, but hey, that's where I am, and I like it.

Mind you, that does not stop me from having fun, and I did just that a few weeks ago when I summoned NT to hit the Castro with me. We did the Lookout and Toad Hall, and it was good times.

I also did liquid brunchies at The Grove with J-Fri and Kimmie this past weekend. I was too pooped for Folsom--in fact, I ended up sleeping about eleven hours on Sunday.

J-Co and I are seeing Matt Bellassai in November, the guy who used to do those hysterical Wine About It videos on Buzzfeed. My period of wanting nothing to do with her has expired. I'd like to think it's a product of my newfound religion, but it's mostly because she's usually down to do things when most others are not.

And I'm going to Universal Studios with Tifferbee for my fortieth. Christ, I cannot believe that's just around the corner.

I hope to retire at fifty seven, which means I'm at the halfway point. There was a lot packed into those first seventeen years, but that period of my twenties and even early thirties was a whirlwind of change and excitement, and for the past eight or nine years, it's been lovingly chill.

Who knows what else is around the corner.