I ran three miles yesterday and feel really good.

Go, you!

Susan--remember that you are who you are even when working a job you don't love. Really, it doesn't define you if you don't think that it does. Hec and Allyson are both published writers who also work in offices. The office work doesn't make either of them less of a writer and it doesn't in your case, either.

It sounds like both you and new boss are going through a shakedown period and those ialways nvolve a lot of assumptions and questions and changes. Filling out this description is a way to get what you want--more input into what you do and how you are seen, so take the extra time.

Go, d! And what magic machine, pray tell?

I'm sorry work is dragging at you, Susan. Do try to make time for a thorough response to that questionaire. Letting your boss know what your understanding of your job needs to be done. If what whe wants you to be doing really is something completely other, well, you both need to know that.

I think part of the problem is I only sort of understand my role myself. I mean, I've been here since June. I had two days of overlap with the guy I replaced, and then I just kinda jumped in and did what needed to be done. I never saw it as some kind of larger mission than just keeping the bureaucracy at bay so the chaplains can do their job. And I don't really WANT a larger mission. Really, was completely busy and a bit backlogged already. I'm just not sure how to describe my role, because it's just doing what needs to be done, and there are always different questions and needs flying at me from one direction or another.

I'm just not sure how to describe my role, because it's just doing what needs to be done, and there are always different questions and needs flying at me from one direction or another.

This is a perfectly valid and honest description.

t, We have something like this QiGong Massager. It has a vibrational thumping that stimulates the tissues for repair. Works like gang-busters too, in my experience.

Ooh, interesting. Thanks, d!

Ooh I get an official certificate of completion. It says I completed 2.5 hours of training when it was actually 2:05.

edit: and I wasn't wearing pants

I remember being in monterey when the fog rolled in. I was like "should we call the fire dept?" & my step sisters was like "why" "where is all this smoke coming from?" she laughed and laughed. Once I knew it was fog, quite amazing. Mind you i was about 12 or so.

OK, I've had lunch and feel a bit better. I emailed our Assoc. Director who was the Acting Director and therefore my boss when I was hired, and if she can squeeze me into her schedule, I'm going to ask her advice on how to deal with this in a productive way.

One thing I'm going to try to communicate is the fact I feel like I'm already overloaded. I may be able to take on more in another 6 months, but right now I'm still learning the ropes and often have to spend more time researching where to GET information than actually getting and processing it. So I feel like I need some space to consolidate what I'm already working on before taking on anything else. Only that's very hard for me to say, because it feels like admitting weakness and maybe she'll think I'm not up for the job and all that stuff.

I also think she needs to understand that I can offer a 40-hour work week, and that because I'm smart and quick I can do a lot in 40 hours (at least, once I get past the reinventing-the-wheel phase of the job), but that's all I can offer. I have a daycare pickup to make, so quittin' time is quittin' time, period. The second part of that, which I think everyone else gets because we talked about my writing during my interview process, is that I'm a bit different from the chaplains in that this is their profession, but it's just my job. I'll do it to the best of my ability, because I was raised to believe in commitment and duty and all that stuff, but I want the space to treat it as a job. One thing that's been bugging me about her is that I feel like she's trying to make me enthusiastic and rah-rah about bureaucracy and budgets. ("But you're an INTJ, Susan! You're supposed to love budgets! Budgets mean people and programs!") I'd much rather be left alone to be a little cynical with a side of gallows humor. Everyone else on the staff seems to like me that way!