Week One.

My plan for Sunday night was to treat Monday morning like the first day of school— way back in Kindergarten—when I had a “when the sun goes down” bedtime. Whether it was to combat the stress and exhaustion of the previous few days or just to catch up on “beauty sleep” (not that I really need it)—I wanted to look and feel my best for my first day at SHM. But of course, this is reality fourteen years later, and nothing ever goes according to plan. When does it ever? A friend of mine decided to have a birthday party in her suite, and I of course took fashionably late to mean I should get there two hours after it started. I had just wanted to stop in, do the whole wave and walk thing, and get back to my apartment by 8—my amended bed time. Well, after leaving around 8:50, I forgot about my apartment ‘floor meeting’ at 9, which was followed by food and awkward conversation and everything but sleep. I’m gonna estimate that I shut my eyes no sooner than 2 the next morning; who knows when I actually passed out. I wanted to wake up at 7:45, giving myself 45 minutes to get dressed and out the door. Instead, I was subjected to a rather rude awakening at 6:30 when my “full-time fabulous” roommate decided she needed an hour and a half to pick out an outfit for her 8 o’clock class. -___-. So I’m up, and not looking nearly as beautiful as I intended. I flew out the door around 8:30, convinced I was going to be late for a job that starts at 9:30 and can't be more than 30 minutes away, and arrived in the downstairs lobby of 1500 Spring Garden at 8:54, almost 40 minutes early for work. Go me. Can I say that as soon as I set foot into the office, for my first real day here, I could not have been happier. The stress and exhaustion of the night before kind of seemed irrelevant. I knew the staff would be friendly, or at least ‘play nice,’ but I had no idea how laid back and hilarious they all genuinely are. The group is so diverse in character and yet they all operate as a unit, constantly supporting each other. I was nervous about being thrown into a situation where I was the new girl, overwhelmed with responsibility while possessing very little knowledge, but that was just not the case here. I entered my rather spacious ‘cubicle’ to find a schedule on the desk in front of me, detailing every half hour of my day, and it didn’t feel daunting as I had anticipated. In fact, looking around at everyone else, whether knee deep in work or just chatting away with each other, it made me feel really welcome. Now what makes me nervous is the fact that I don’t feel overwhelmed yet. My goal is to stay on top of my responsibilities, to carry them out well, and to finally cut the vicious cycle of procrastination. While it’s only day three, I am loving SHM. The free sushi I got on my first day also didn’t hurt. Talk about delicious.