So I've now been at my new job for about 6 weeks. Hence, the much lessened blogging, which I am feeling rather guilty about. I need to get over this and get back into things soon! So I do want to thank my blogging friends who have stuck with me through a lot of the drivel of the last while. It'll come back soon, I am sure...

The new job is great. More than great. I've got a new lease on life. I start a lot earlier than I was used to (7:30am instead of 9) but the commute is only a 1/4 of my old one. The people are amazingly friendly and I've met quite a few that make me feel as if I've already got lifelong friends. Working closer to home, and being home earlier has given me a little bonus I had long let alone. As those that read here know, I have chronic pain. Mostly from persistent migraines, but also from the Crohn's. I take, or should I say, was taking up to 6 narcotic-level pain pills a day. Since I've been working there, I've been able to wean myself off. It's slow. Withdrawl's a bitch, but I am now strong enough to handle it and that's something I haven't been able to say in years.

There's a lot to learn, though, and I'm often overwhelmed with the technical terms. Frogs, castings, maganese, shotblasting. It's a far cry from the pharmaceutical job I used to do. But somehow, I am just eating all this education up. I've got a big dry-erase board in my office and a few of the guys have been playing 'pictionary' with me to help me understand.

A couple times a week, we need to go back into the 'yard'. This entails putting on a hard hard, safety goggles, steel toed boots and a safety jacket. Let me just say some people can really pull that look off and get my heart racing just a bit, but others, well...let's just say they look better behind a desk. Yeah, superficial I know.

Yesterday, I had the chance to go for drinks with an ex coworker of mine from the Old Den of Hell. It sounds just insane back there and it would seem that I truly did get a gift when I was laid off. Although I knew that already...I had worked for far too long in a pressure cooker environment, not getting home until too late to properly decompress and eat. The people in my old office were jaded, frustrated and it had become highly political. You just never knew who you could trust, and I especially found that out last year when people I'd held close had turned on me. So for the last year, it had been incredibly debilitating. But I wouldn't quit. Couldn't. Even when my health got so severe and I began having the kidney issues, I wouldn't. So when I got the news that it was me, I was elated. It was like they paid me to quit. And not even once, have I ever been sad. Missing my true friends, most definitely, but now 4 months later, I'm in contact still with those that wish to and I know that it will stay that way. Seeing my old coworker confirmed that yesterday. Bonds don't have to end. They just take on a new form.

I can now honestly say that the old job was slowly killing me. It was subtle and over time, but nonetheless, was having a substantial effect on my heath and psyche. While this new job, at this point, is only a short contract, I have been hearing good things about them trying to find me a place in the organization. That would be perfect.