Why does everything seem to happen at once

For the past year or so, it seems like very little in my life had changed. Every time I met up with an old friend it found myself responding to the age old question of “so what’s new” with “nothing.” Same apartment, same roommates, same job, same position, same commute, and same guy situation. And, it didn’t really seem to matter how much time had passed since I last saw this person.

And then, in the last three weeks it seems everything has changed. And I suppose by everything, I would be including the lives of those closest to me.

I suppose it all really began back in May with Hillary – she received a promotion at work, and moved out to the burbs because she couldn’t stand the commute to her new job (and likely need a good excuse to get out of her current roommate situation). Obviously this is exciting news, but a little sad that she no longer lives so close and can grab Tuesday night cocktails (but who am I kidding, we rarely did this before).

Then in the beginning of June little Becca got engaged! And, while this was not real surprise, it is still very exciting. And so has begun the endless wedding plans. I’m pretty sure she’s going to try and get us much planned as possible while she has the summer free. (On a side note: I’m watching their dogs right now while they’re in Cancun for the week and I immediately think of all the thousands of times where I heard how terrible the life of a teacher is…)

Anyway, our lease was up at the end of June so Becca and I prepared to move. She and Ashley found an apartment in Des Plaines, and I decided to move in with my friends Guti and Alex up in Wrigleyville. I definitely loved living with Becca and I’m glad we got to do that one more time. And as much as I loved living with her, I was absolutely positively done with Mike. I actually came extremely close to burning all of his shit.

And then came black Tuesday when my work laid off (slash fired) 11 people, which is a lot in a company of about 80 people. While I none of my close friends were let go, with a company that size I naturally knew most of them quite well. On the day they let everyone go, it seemed that they were selecting one or two people from every department, yet no one had been cut from Marketing yet. So, naturally we were all a little on edge (and there was a lot of speculation that Rhonda was not on a business trip but had been let go). But, as it turns out that to save our entire department, our VP moved me and Lindsey to other positions within the company. And while I was definitely glad to still have a job, both my Director and VP were out of town all week when this was announced, and for some reason none of the men knew what was going on (surprise, surprise ;-)

So, my new position is in the Research Department and Lindsey is in Membership. Now research seems like it would make sense for me, but as the department currently exists they are primarily responsible for fundraising and corporate support and obtaining grants for our doctors to conduct research. But, I’ve since talked to my new boss and what he has in mind for the position seems pretty cool and I think I’ll like it. No details for the job are hammered out at all yet, but I’m definitely going to try and get myself a new title and salary to go with it! (and if they don’t hurry up with any of it, I’m just going to make up a new title and start putting it on everything – and the title will certainly be one step above whatever you need to get a window seat)

Speaking of window seats, a certain Director was also demoted during this whole thing, and she has been moved downstairs in the busy area (presumably where people can keep an eye on her). It’s been really quiet and kind of nice with her not sitting over my shoulder, but it’s also a little weird.

So, with being changed to a new department, I found myself swamped all of a sudden. Naturally this couldn’t have come at a worse time since I was in the middle of moving, but whatever. It was a rough couple of weeks at the end of June, but it’s over now and things seem like they’re calming down. Work is better already and I’m already close to being unpacked (thanks to some help from my roommate). And I had an awesome weekend last weekend – went out downtown, Cubs rooftop, boating and then a pool. I also think that I’m really going to like living with my new roommates. I’ve hung out with Alex now a couple of times and I made plans to go to Rascal Flatts with Guti in 2 weeks.

Funny story – last night I text Alex “where do we keep the toilet paper?” His response: “Guti and I don’t use TP. We just had it there for guests… we just rinse afterwards. U should too…” The sad part is, I couldn’t decide whether or not he was joking. Alex didn’t seem like the completely joking type, plus they are both Hispanic and I kept thinking back to the Asian frat house and the little oddities I learned there. Eventually though he came home and asked me if I tried rinsing… and then he busted up laughing.