Caterwauling

I keep seeing everyone in the blogiverse skipping the traditional “year in review” posts and actually looking back over the decade. So, please excuse this self-indulgent post, as I look to find where it all went wrong. 🙂

2000: Ushered in the new decade by watching Gwen Stefani perform “It’s the End of the World as We Know it” on TV. Fell asleep about 15 minutes later when the world didn’t implode. I was 25 years old, working in non-profit in Pittsburgh, broke as all hell, and usually drunk.

2001: Changed jobs. Made a real salary. Had a life-changing event that I didn’t really deal with until last month. 9/11 changed the world. I started my tradition of working 14-hour days because I supervised/was supervised by morons. Met Tiff, who did more work and had more ideas (in her part-time role on my team) than the other (full-time) people on my team combined.

2002: Tiff decided to move to D.C. and while I wasn’t looking to join her at first, I’d had enough of Pittsburgh and Her Royal Pretentiousness (my supervisor) to last me a lifetime. Left the job after 525,600 minutes, down to the second. We settled in Alexandria, Va., and I returned to journalism, which was OK but the $16,000 pay cut really stung.

2003: Fought like hell for (and got) a promotion. Moved into my own apartment. Got appendicitis and fought like hell for doctors to take me seriously. Eventually it exploded and I nearly died. I should have sued INOVA Alexandria while I had the chance. Got a new cat (Kadie). Maddie started crapping all over the house in protest, and never stopped.

2004: Turned 30. Nearly got fired over my blog. Quit before they had the chance to can me. Was approved for unemployment but the bitch in H.R. overrode finance’s decision. “Freelanced” and sold vibrators out of a suitcase. Feeble suicide attempt on Thanksgiving over being broke and miserable. Applied for hundreds of jobs, interviewed for dozens. Ended the year after a very successful 10 hours of interviews with the company I wanted to join.

2005: Started the new job in a new field. Fell in love with it. Moreover, fell in love with the people, and the learning curve wasn’t so painful as it could have been. Started to lose touch with my friends in the “outside” world as I went from not working for five months to putting in 60- to 80-hour weeks.

2006: Got great assignments at work. Traveled extensively. Moved to Rockville, Md. Got a promotion. My grandfather died. Mom moving in with me became imminent.

2007: Launched the biggest project of my career. Gave up my new 1BR apartment for a 2BR. Mom moved in. I found ways to work even-longer hours. Made some new friends but never got to see much of them. Traveled a lot for work, thankfully. A friend, worried about my well-being, invited me to join him at church. I’ve attended Sunday worship services regularly ever since.

2008: Maintained biggest project of my career, plus juggled the full-time job I had on top of it. Burned the candle at both ends. My beloved department got dissolved, the company got reorganized and I got banished from the basement to live with the “upstairs people.” Lived for work-related travel.

2009: Quit my job. Cried every day of the month-long notice that I gave, as I wasn’t just leaving my colleagues but my friends and family at work. Moved with Mom to a beach town. Started a new job. Turned 35. Maddie died. Moved again; put Mom in her own apartment. Boarded the psychotropic hayride. Got some of my sanity back.

2010: To be continued. …

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 3rd, 2010 at 9:59 AM and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.