KJ

I've been meaning to post about all the good things that happened on Wednesday, but I keep getting distracted. So buckling down to sum up.

First of all, many many thanks for all the good wishes!! I tried to get you all personally, but I know I may have missed some; rest assured I saw them all, and appreciate them muchly. :)

The librarians informed me on Tuesday that they were taking me to lunch, that they had already made reservations, and that they'd thought about surprising me but decided they'd better tell me, so that I wouldn't schedule a meeting or something. But the fun actually started in the morning, with a visit to the big cats. This time I got to see all three cats: the cheetah, the lynx, and a serval. Such beautiful creatures. Followed by lunch, at The Slanted Door, a restaurant I've always really liked. We stuffed ourselves there, and then went back to the office, where they presented me with a cake. Candles and all! They even got my name on it, in frosting! Of course, we were way too full for cake at that point, so we had to hold off a couple hours, to eat it later. Pretty tasty, once I finally had room for a slice.

Then I got home to discover the first disc of Avatar Book 2 waiting for me. I would probably have inhaled it, but T had a work project, so we only got to watch the first episode. But still, very exciting. Man, that's a good show. So instead I played more Phoenix Wright, also a good thing, even if I'm still only on the third episode of the first game.

So overall one of my more memorable and fun birthdays. Yay.

Today was my long-planned lunch with a former coworker. On my last day in the office, I was heading out to grab lunch and we were in the stairwell at the same time. I asked where she was going and she said she was off to meet some friends for a knitting lunch date. "Too bad I already have plans, we could have had lunch together for the first and last time," she said. When I pointed out that living in the neighborhood meant that we could have a lunch date any time, we made plans to get together at a future time, and that future time was today. And it was really great -- we talked more than I ever did when we were co-workers, and not just about work stuff. We learned about each other's past jobs, swapped stories about being the children of recovering alcoholic fathers who smoked, dished on politics... I really enjoyed it.

I've never been much for making close friends at work. I'm not sure why that is. I have no objection to being friends with co-workers. Before, I had the feeling it was because I was a secretary, which often puts a barrier between you and the people you work for. But that was hardly the case at my last job, where I had many peers and more common interests with them. Sure, I went out for drinks with folks from time to time, and had lunch with someone once in a blue moon, but it was never more than that. My standard explanation for this is that I already have a solid group of local friends, so I don't "need" to have friends in the office. But I do still end up feeling kind of left out when co-workers talk about the things they did together over the weekend or after work or whatever. I wouldn't say it's a serious lack in my life, but it's there. Wouldn't it be funny if I developed a friendship with C now that we don't work together any more?

I did learn one interesting tidbit about my former workplace. Before I was laid off, I was up for a project manager position in another department. But everyone moved too slowly, a key VP was on vacation at a bad time, and they closed the open requisition right before they announced my round of layoffs. Well, it turns out that most of that group, including the VP, was laid off on Monday. So even if I had gotten that job, it would only have been a temporary stay of execution. Could I have used the extra three months? I suppose -- that would have stretched my severance period closer to the wedding. But how much would it have sucked to just get started in a new position, get excited about it, and then have it snatched away from me? No, definitely better this way. And I can let go of the little tiny bit of bitterness that I had about not getting offered that job.