What's upsetting you today?

[HungLikeJesus]

You don't notice the wires until you try to take a picture without wires in it. In some areas it's almost impossible.

[Undertoad]

Older homes in Britain have exposed pipes, I think because they built with stone instead of wood.

[Shawnee123]

I've got the blues.

As I end this first week at my new job, I'm finding myself to be very out of sorts. This training has been hard, not because I don't understand the work but because I am trying to merge what I do know with their way of doing things, not go out on a limb yet on changes, not assume too much, and trying to understand the differences. (I know that was bad sentence structure but I'm in a hurry.)

I knew going into this that I was taking a "lesser" job for more pay, but I guess I kind of miss my stature in my old company, for what it was worth.

It's just hard being the new guy. Everyone is very nice...it's just different, and for some reason I have felt near tears all day (just on the inside, I don't think it shows.)

I'm probably just tired, and stressed because it is all new and a bit scary. I like it here and don't regret the move, but I'm just feeling some aftershock. I feel lonely, which is stupid...I am meeting my best ex cow orker after work. I feel different here in the Cellar even...like I don't belong.

I don't know.

Thanks for the ears.

[Pico and ME]

Awwwww...Shawnee, I've been there. Adjusting to a new job can be a very uncomfortable experience. Its temporary (and I know you know that), but still not fun to go through.

[glatt]

Shawnee, you belong here in the Cellar! Don't even think that.

The transition to a new job will be challenging at times, but that cool. It's what makes it refreshing. Soon you will find your place and how you fit in, and you can get comfortable there too. The cream rises to the top, and you will too.

[Cicero]

Sounds like self imposed isolation. It's dumb when I do that....but I do it. I feel cut off from everything and everyone. And I'm not. It's just a feeling.

The real question is:

Aren't you going to look silly when I tickle you? heh.

Oh I'm going to look silly, like an old perverted lesbo? heh heh. It'll be worth it. Fuck it.

Consider yourself virtually tickled.

[HungLikeJesus]

Shawnee, perhaps you have been taken over by the pods.

[Cicero]

Oh wait, maybe you have been assimilated. Run Shawnee!!

[dar512]

I'm guessing you're just stressed. Wait for everything to mellow out and you'll be ok.

After a bit, they'll recognize the potential in you and you'll have the stature and recognition you deserve.

[Sundae]

Starting somewhere new is hard. And feeling out of sorts at work will of course have a knock on effect in the rest of your life. I once had a job where I cried every day in the toilets for the first week and was unhappy for the first couple of months. I had nowhere else to go though and had to stick it out. I never actually forgot how miserable I was when I started, but I did look back and wonder what the heck was so bad. By the time I left I loved the place so much - I only went because there was no room to expand int he role and I was offered much better opportunities elsewhere.

I'm sure your period of adjustment will be nowhere near as long. But do give yourself permission to grieve your old job.

And we're here for you even if you're not feeling it at the moment.

[Shawnee123]

Thanks guys. YOu made me laugh, smile, and feel better!

I just had a meeting with my boss too. I told her I was adjusting, but reiterated how great the people have been.

But SG is right, I am grieving my old job...though I didn't think I would, and it's very normal to do that. There's a reason job change is on the list of identified major life stressors.

[Pie]

Originally Posted by lookout123

95% of the houses here are slabhomes. We don't have crawlspaces and few homes have basements. That makes fixing the problem a pretty big ordeal.

The burst pipe situation doesn't come up here as often as it does in the midwest because we don't get that cold very often but we do range from 35 degrees to 125 degrees every year so the expansion and contraction still causes things to get loose.

Question: was it polybutylene piping? Turns out there was an epidemic of poly-built houses in the sunbelt (and in MD, for some reason) in the 70s and 80s. Many of them have had to be completely re-plumbed.

We are trying to determine if the house we have a bid on still has poly in it.

[lookout123]

Sooo, you know how I'm dealing with broken pipes and not overly thrilled about it? OK, so today I'm waiting for a call from a contractor and the call doesn't come and it doesn't come and then finally I get pissed off enough to call them and bitch because I've taken another day out of the office for this... only to find my cell has been shut off. actually all four of them have been. (my personal and work, and Mrs L's personal and work) I call Sprint to find I have an outstanding $1800 phone bill because my automatic payment was rejected. uh, WTF?!?! rejected??? uh, WTF?!?! $1800???

Yeah, it turns out that when I transferred Mr's L's two phones over to my business plan a couple months ago they forgot to put in my unlimited text messages and they magically reduced my minutes. An hour later they've opened the investigation but I need phones working so I had to pay the effing bill and it'll get credited back.

I hate you and your law, Mr Murphy.

[TheMercenary]

Where is your house LO. more than half the homes in the south are on slabs. One thing they have done in the last 10 years or so is to pour all the slabs with fiber reinforced concrete. All the plumbing in them is PVC of some kind. But of course we don't have hard freezes here but a week out of a year.

[Sundae]

Bloody Diz.

Don't try to practice your Halloween make-up with a Singapura in the room.
In fact don't try to do anything, ever, with a Singapura in the house.

I'm used to brush swiping, to pats on the arm when I'm doing liquid eyeliner, even to him trying to bat the mascara wand. What I am not used to is using cosmetic glitter. Oh you know the stuff, the really, really fine stuff. That comes in tiny pots because a little goes such a loooooong way. That transfers at the slightesr touch. You don't? Come round to my place, you'll know it intimately very soon.

I didn't take enough care where I put the lid. I had a scattering of glitter in it, rather than risk using the open pot (which was sensibly out of reach). Diz made a play for it and I wasn't quick enough. There's a dusting of red glitter on the bedclothes, the bottom sheet, me, my body, and all over Diz. I'll be finding it for weeks (although thankfully tomorrow was my day to change the sheets anyway). I could have strangled him.

We've made up now, but goodness knows what I'll do when I'm really getting ready. A couple more practices needed just so it doesn't stress me out if he intervenes again. Looks okay actually. I only did it on one eye and without foundation, but I took some pics. Just realised I left my USB cable at work though. Grrrr. Pics when I get the chance.