Why I Like My Job

Over ten years ago (it's super gross to say that, but such is life), I remember my Freshman Writing course did a section on memoir and reviewed an article by Louise Plummer on keeping a journal using only five minutes a day (and I still stalk her on her personal blog here).

It's probably one of the most memorable things I've ever read. (You can actually buy her collection of hilarious personal essays, Thoughts of a Grasshopper, here.)

Aaaanyway, one of the suggestions is to just make random lists:  what is in your wallet or under your bed, what you ate that day, what you're wearing, what you're afraid of, what makes you mad, what you are doing tomorrow, your top five favorite flowers, etc.

So, here is my five-minute journal for the day:  Why I Like My Job.

• I get to walk around with an ID badge clipped to my shirt.
• The cafeteria food.  No, for serious.  It's amazing.
• I can speak English whenever I want to and everyone understands me.  But I can try and speak Danish when I want to and everyone only laughs a little bit.
• I get to finally use words like "georeferencing," "feature class," "ArcCatalog 10.2," and "point cloud dataset" in a job...to people's actual faces...rather than in papers for school.
• I like my nerdy coworkers.  My project manager is an older British version of Cousin Dave.
• I now have separate work and personal e-mail accounts.
• People care about what I can do and what I know and how I can grow and contribute.  And ask me about it.  And actually listen when I answer.  And treat me like a serious person who has "skills" and "potential."  Because I am!  It's...it's just been a while since I've been seen and treated that way by people other than, like, Paul.
• I get to have legit international conference calls in legit conference rooms drinking legit cups of hot chocolate (while everyone else has lattes or whatever they have).
• For the rest of my life I can annoyingly say that I was once "in consulting."  Hah. What a Manolo Blahniky phrase to use.   
•  I get to work with two really amazing super cool companies that do two completely different interesting things.
• 37-hour work week
• The 7:22 commuter train to Copenhagen where it's so quiet and nice and fast and uncrowded and I can watch the sun rise over the water through giant picture windows while sitting in my super comfortable chair with all the legroom in the world.
• It took me out to a fancy restaurant where I ate the hands. down. best. steak of my life that also cost $50 (just for the steak.  I mean.  $50 for one single steak.  Insanity.)  Also, thank you Uruguayan ranchers!  You did your job really fantastically well there.
• I am getting paid what I consider to be "a lot" of money.  Which is awesome because that Master's Degree wasn't free, folks!  Technically I'm not in debt for it, but that was $20,000 that didn't go into savings.
• There's a company swing dance club.
• Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand, I have a Danish keyboard.  Now I can do this: æåøøåææææååååø