Flossie at Work

I've been at my "new" job for a week, and (surprise) I like it! That's one benefit of getting to test out a job for five years before taking it on.

It's nice to go from being "a grad student who is working as an editor for her stipend" to "an editor who is completing a PhD on the side."

As an added bonus, I get to spend the summer away from Toxic Mold Building. They are still cleaning up its basement after the flooding, so I am in a luxurious former mansion converted into a university building. I call it the House of Dudes because it contains the offices of six male professors (and two female staff members). My desk is out in an open area on the second floor surrounded by four dude offices. I feel like Carol, the receptionist in the Bob Newhart Show. Except I don't have to take messages for anyone.

At first I worried that the new job was a big extortive scam I've perpetuated on the university, but after a week I can't believe it was ever a 15-hour-a-week job, which it was for my first five years. I no longer have to go home after three hours a day and know how much is still hanging over my head--or worse, work late and feel resentful. Now I can catch up on our perpetually missed deadlines, and maybe even do a little more than merely keep things afloat.