I accidentally slept until 1 PM today, after ignoring my 8:30 alarm with an "oh I'll just doze for a minute." Only woke up to a call from my new colleague SCK, who was in the cafe with her husband, having lunch, and wanted to know if then was a good time to meet about the LGL concept note that's due on Friday. We'd agreed yesterday that we should meet up today. So I scrambled into some clothes, put my laptop in my backpack, and went downstairs.
We chatted for a bit while I ate a sandwich and drank some coffee, and then who should show up but AI, the bossman himself, looking very stylish in a brownish shalwar kameez and fancy vest. He had planned to meet MU, who's the head of AK Rural Support Prog, before going together to a meeting with the Chief Minister of GB. But he was early or MU was late, so he sat down with us and talked for a while, mostly about politics -- I listened for the most part. Then SCK's husband left and MU arrived, and we talked about LGL.
After parting ways SCK and I went up to the executive lounge, in a part of the hotel I'd never been to, to get into some more depth. It's a frustrating project because the solicitation is uncommonly vague and unclear: as SCK pointed out, it even confuses what are normally different levels of a results framework or logic model (e.g. some objectives look like intermediate results, some objectives look like outcomes). Anyway we got our next steps together and that's good.
AI was supposed to come back to the hotel after his meeting but never did, which is fine. Canada colleagues arrived tonight and we were supposed to meet but they never got in touch; also fine. I worked out and then ate dinner in the buffet dining room, wrote up my notes from the trip, and did some research about opening a new checking account and an investment account. Things I started to do but could not bring myself to finish before leaving the US. Would have been wiser not to procrastinate but oh well. Need to call the banks and also Vanguard tomorrow because I'm employed overseas and apparently that makes things more complicated.
I'm not really nervous for tomorrow, at least not on the surface. The meetings I've had over the last week have been both energizing and confidence-boosting to some extent. I really do know what I'm talking about in some ways, and how to do at least some of the practical aspects of my job. There are certainly things that I will have to learn as I go, such as managing a team of people. Being responsible for the overall performance of other people is, if not really intimidating, then a little bit of a black box.
Plus, I've made my choice. I've taken the opportunity that was presented to me and there's really no going back. So what's the point of being nervous? I'll find out tomorrow, and next week, and the week after that, and the month after that whether I can do the job or not. Fingers crossed.
All those brave words having been said, let's see how easily I fall asleep tonight, haha.I think "haha" in that sense -- in the text message sense -- should be in the dictionary. Haha: interjection: 1. (used in written communication, primarily in internet- or mobile-based messaging services, to signal to a reader that a sentence or clause is meant humorously.)" It's already in the dictionary.
We chatted for a bit while I ate a sandwich and drank some coffee, and then who should show up but AI, the bossman himself, looking very stylish in a brownish shalwar kameez and fancy vest. He had planned to meet MU, who's the head of AK Rural Support Prog, before going together to a meeting with the Chief Minister of GB. But he was early or MU was late, so he sat down with us and talked for a while, mostly about politics -- I listened for the most part. Then SCK's husband left and MU arrived, and we talked about LGL.
After parting ways SCK and I went up to the executive lounge, in a part of the hotel I'd never been to, to get into some more depth. It's a frustrating project because the solicitation is uncommonly vague and unclear: as SCK pointed out, it even confuses what are normally different levels of a results framework or logic model (e.g. some objectives look like intermediate results, some objectives look like outcomes). Anyway we got our next steps together and that's good.
AI was supposed to come back to the hotel after his meeting but never did, which is fine. Canada colleagues arrived tonight and we were supposed to meet but they never got in touch; also fine. I worked out and then ate dinner in the buffet dining room, wrote up my notes from the trip, and did some research about opening a new checking account and an investment account. Things I started to do but could not bring myself to finish before leaving the US. Would have been wiser not to procrastinate but oh well. Need to call the banks and also Vanguard tomorrow because I'm employed overseas and apparently that makes things more complicated.
I'm not really nervous for tomorrow, at least not on the surface. The meetings I've had over the last week have been both energizing and confidence-boosting to some extent. I really do know what I'm talking about in some ways, and how to do at least some of the practical aspects of my job. There are certainly things that I will have to learn as I go, such as managing a team of people. Being responsible for the overall performance of other people is, if not really intimidating, then a little bit of a black box.
Plus, I've made my choice. I've taken the opportunity that was presented to me and there's really no going back. So what's the point of being nervous? I'll find out tomorrow, and next week, and the week after that, and the month after that whether I can do the job or not. Fingers crossed.
All those brave words having been said, let's see how easily I fall asleep tonight, haha.
2 comments:
So great to see this first entry! Keep 'em coming.
So great to see this first entry! Keep 'em coming.
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