My new job is kicking my butt.

It was a rushed hiring process but I now work in the dietary department of the hospital where my brother works. I started this past Monday, November 23rd.

The HR reps had assured me that the first week was supposed to five solid days of in-class/at-a-desk, 8am to 4pm, learning about the organization, employee fine print, and all of that.

It turns out that HR hadn’t communicated with my department manager very well (she expected me on Nov 30th) and starting early had really meant that my first week would be on-the-job training. (Therefore I didn’t have a locker, the required system logins, parking passes and directions, uniforms, hell I was so disoriented by the dang hallways, I would’ve been grateful for a damn map of the units my trainer and I were covering. My trainer repeatedly told me learning the floors was easy and I would “get it” by the end of my first day, but I am legit as directionally challenged as Zoro Roronoa—partly because I can’t read a sign at 10-15ft because my vision sucks and I haven’t seen an eye doctor about it yet. I should really get that taken care of…)

Needless to say, my first day (the dietetics dept is horribly understaffed; since my trainer was responsible for an extra floor, my 8-hour first day became 13 hours) was exhausting. My second day was 12 hours. Third day was 6 hours.

Then I got two days off and tomorrow it begins again. I’m getting the hang of it, though. (Meanwhile, I’ve been helping my dad/former boss hire someone as a replacement in his dental office; I interviewed our favorite candidate last weekend; Doc (my dad) just needs to give me a few details before I can contact the candidate with the job offer and subsequent paperwork/processing. I’ll get this all done somehow.)

Today is the first that I’ve written, revised or edited anything creative in weeks and it’s liberating (I got my laptop up and running, which helped). I touched up Milk Carton Universe and worked on This is what I Think of You and Fiction Parody; and doodled some comics.

I’m not sure where I was going by telling you all of this. There was a point, honest.

I probably should get ready for tomorrow and go to sleep. I work Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday this week. I also need to contact the new hire for my dad’s office by Monday…

Yeah, I need to go to sleep and be rested to tomorrow.

I hope to make my future posts more positive, full of fiction and publishing announcements, although I can’t promise a robust frequency. We’ll see. Once I get the hang of my new schedule/job and I can pace myself (not be physically and mentally exhausted after 3 days), I want to get back to my writing/creative hobbies. That’s my hope.

Have a great weekend, everyone! Stay safe!