The money is in. The Former Company has honoured its commitment to the layoffees. Although I am not sure when I will actually see the cheque in question, it was mailed yesterday to the Ministry of Labour. The ties are finally severed, other than with people I care a great deal about who are still employed there. I am relieved.
I also got my first paycheque from the new company. It is finally time to start catching up after the two-month paycheque drought. That means I am doubly relieved today. What a great way to start the long weekend!
The new job is going so well. I am thoroughly enjoying the numerous challenges that I have faced until now and the ones I see coming down the wire. I spent yesterday learning Dreamweaver, the course-building tool we will be using for our online courses. I am taking ownership of the online course procedure, and will train my fellow writers on how to work within the templates that I create for the Web Based Training (WBT). What a difference a few weeks make!
I had my first major success this week too. I had been “thrown to the wolves” (my Director’s words) with another department’s technical paper that needed stylizing as well as a technical writing edit. There was some serious politicking involved, and it meant a lot to our department on a company-wide recognition level to do the job right. I was led to understand that a successful edit would also encourage a further relationship with the Department in question, which ultimately would contribute greatly to the curriculum we are building. After a few questionable contacts made back and forth with the Director who wanted the job done, we set up a conference call with him and my Director for the day after he received the edits. I also got the edit done a day ahead of schedule. The bottom line is that he had nothing but praise for the job I had done. He complimented us on the professional look of the document, and praised the edit. My Director was beaming and giving me the thumbs up as we listened. I passed the first test of my skills, and I am now that much more comfortable in my new “skin”.
It’s been a great week and I look forward to many more of the same!
It's My Birthday and I'll Cry if I Want To
No tears for this birthday! It's one I am welcoming with joy! I am re-employed, love my work, my family is happy and normalcy is settling back in. My former colleague (and now colleague again) at the Company told me that tradition is that the birthday celebrator brings treats for the whole team. Whether he was teasing me or not, my colleagues will be
fressing on mounds of home-baked chocolate chip cookies today : )
My Dad teases me to this day that as a tot, I would tell people that my birthday was on "June twenty the fifth". I had a little "encounter" of sorts with his father this past weekend. A little historical perspective.... My grandfather passed away when I was in 3rd grade, but I always felt that he was "with" me. There were pivotal moments in my life, such as seeing the
Western Wall for the first time when I was 15 years old, when I truly felt a set of arms wrap around me as I stood in awe of a sight I had waited years to see. I won't go into all of the details, save to say that I had an impromptu "reading" of sorts this weekend, and my grandfather was clearly making his presence known. It was an awesome experience, with the best part being the emphatic approval of my husband and pride expressed in my daughter. I have said before that if I have a regret to express about my life to date, it would be that my hubby and I didn't meet far earlier in life, so that we would have the joy of so many more happy years together. The words expressed during the impromptu reading, were that *this* is the eternity. There was recognition that although I have gone through much pain in my life to get to this point, it was a necessary growth that prepared me for meeting my "
bashert", the one who was I was meant to spend my life with. The reading, although impromptu and initially met with some degree of skepticism, was the best birthday gift I could receive.
