Anniversary
It's August 22, 2010. I arrived here on August 19, 2009, 11 months after receiving my job offer for the job that is about to become my longest stint at any job.
I still enjoy my work a lot. I've learned a tremendous amount in the last year. Whether I'll outgrow it in another year remains to be seen; people tend to get a little tired of it before their two years are up. I enjoyed working with interns over the summer. One was an excellent writer and a joy to read; the other needed a little work and was a joy to help.
I still adore my boss. I like that he reenacts Monty Python skits and quotes his favorite Simpsons episodes and gets the literary references I try to slip into my work even if he cuts them out. I like that he talks things over with me and asks for my opinion on stuff we're working on together, or even for things I haven't worked on. I like seeing him up there in front of a roomful of people. I like that everyone has such a high opinion of him.
I'm getting a raise next paycheck, since we go up a whole step grade (whoops - there's a big difference!) at our one-year anniversary if we've been admitted to a bar. I like that too.
I feel much more settled in these days than I did in the fall. I like walking to El Morro around sunset. I like driving home along a palm tree-lined ocean cliff with the Castillo San Cristobal and the Capitol in front of me. I like going to brunch at the really good restaurant a block from my house, as I'll be doing in an hour. I still love my apartment, even if I hate cleaning it.
The changing of the guard has come. People wrapping up their terms have begun moving away already. By the end of October, I'll be the only one left in Old San Juan - my colleagues who aren't moving away, are moving to other neighborhoods. They're outgrowing OSJ, which is very small and has its annoyances, wanting to experience a different neighborhood. But I like it here. And where else could I possibly want to bring houseguests? The other neighborhoods have better beach access and less traffic congestion and slightly lower rents, and the high-rises are enclosed so mosquitoes don't get in and cats don't fall out. But they all look like Miami Beach, so, so what? I will probably live in a box with central HVAC and wall-to-wall carpeting for the rest of my life, as I have for most of my life to date. Here I have high ceilings and wooden shutters and brickwork and hand-painted tile, and I look down on streets lined in blue cobblestones, and the entire neighborhood is one big UNESCO World Heritage site. Why live anywhere else?
Actually it's not true that I'll be the only one left in OSJ, just that I'll be the only "old" one left; two of the incoming group who have started so far are now my neighbors. It is exciting to meet the new people even though I miss/will miss the ones who are leaving. I'm glad I have a group on the same timeline as me, who are here for another year. Some of my favorite people are staying. Some of my favorite people are leaving. So it goes.
I still don't have many - okay, any - friends outside of work. My Spanish is better, but I don't really speak it. I can't go to groups of people and demand they all speak English now that I'm there. This has limited the friendships and community bonds I've made outside work. I realize that I have a very small view of Puerto Rico because of my... idiom, sir? ... yes, idiom. And I don't get out of town nearly enough... money (c'mon, raise!); laziness once the weekend rolls around; uncertainty about the car not falling apart, Blues Brothers-style, in some desolate bend of road.
I'm acclimated to the heat. I can tell when it's about to rain. I go to the gym four to five times per week, since I joined about a month and a half ago, and I like that routine.
The summer is ending and as the weather worsens I will get another crop of visitors. Since March only catamorphism has visited, and now cipherpunk is coming for Thanksgiving and I know others among you are mulling it over, and so is my other sister, the one who didn't visit yet. Visitors have helped me immensely in this past year! It is always good to see a familiar face, and to have someone around who has known me for a while. Particularly nerds, who share some subcultural points of reference that people here don't. *Last* time we did brunch I was saying "man, I should get a hobby, all my friends back home are hackers and makers, and they work on robots and arduinos and big art projects for the playa and stuff..." and the table full of lawyers just looked at me like I was crazy.
Another year here. It's not so bad. But, wow, only one more year...! I'd better get to seeing and doing all the things that I think, hey, I have two years to do, no rush.
There is a helicopter circling overhead again, to provide overhead cover while heavily armed and geared-up cops arrest somebody in the slum two blocks away. When I arrived I didn't know what was up with the helicopters. There is still so much I don't know.
Boris has a vet appointment on Thursday. I think - I hope - that his external fixator is coming off at last. He had it put on just before Thanksgiving, remember. That's been Boris's experience here. He's had his own journey to make. I'm glad I have him around, even though expensive cat is expensive.
I still enjoy my work a lot. I've learned a tremendous amount in the last year. Whether I'll outgrow it in another year remains to be seen; people tend to get a little tired of it before their two years are up. I enjoyed working with interns over the summer. One was an excellent writer and a joy to read; the other needed a little work and was a joy to help.
I still adore my boss. I like that he reenacts Monty Python skits and quotes his favorite Simpsons episodes and gets the literary references I try to slip into my work even if he cuts them out. I like that he talks things over with me and asks for my opinion on stuff we're working on together, or even for things I haven't worked on. I like seeing him up there in front of a roomful of people. I like that everyone has such a high opinion of him.
I'm getting a raise next paycheck, since we go up a whole step grade (whoops - there's a big difference!) at our one-year anniversary if we've been admitted to a bar. I like that too.
I feel much more settled in these days than I did in the fall. I like walking to El Morro around sunset. I like driving home along a palm tree-lined ocean cliff with the Castillo San Cristobal and the Capitol in front of me. I like going to brunch at the really good restaurant a block from my house, as I'll be doing in an hour. I still love my apartment, even if I hate cleaning it.
The changing of the guard has come. People wrapping up their terms have begun moving away already. By the end of October, I'll be the only one left in Old San Juan - my colleagues who aren't moving away, are moving to other neighborhoods. They're outgrowing OSJ, which is very small and has its annoyances, wanting to experience a different neighborhood. But I like it here. And where else could I possibly want to bring houseguests? The other neighborhoods have better beach access and less traffic congestion and slightly lower rents, and the high-rises are enclosed so mosquitoes don't get in and cats don't fall out. But they all look like Miami Beach, so, so what? I will probably live in a box with central HVAC and wall-to-wall carpeting for the rest of my life, as I have for most of my life to date. Here I have high ceilings and wooden shutters and brickwork and hand-painted tile, and I look down on streets lined in blue cobblestones, and the entire neighborhood is one big UNESCO World Heritage site. Why live anywhere else?
Actually it's not true that I'll be the only one left in OSJ, just that I'll be the only "old" one left; two of the incoming group who have started so far are now my neighbors. It is exciting to meet the new people even though I miss/will miss the ones who are leaving. I'm glad I have a group on the same timeline as me, who are here for another year. Some of my favorite people are staying. Some of my favorite people are leaving. So it goes.
I still don't have many - okay, any - friends outside of work. My Spanish is better, but I don't really speak it. I can't go to groups of people and demand they all speak English now that I'm there. This has limited the friendships and community bonds I've made outside work. I realize that I have a very small view of Puerto Rico because of my... idiom, sir? ... yes, idiom. And I don't get out of town nearly enough... money (c'mon, raise!); laziness once the weekend rolls around; uncertainty about the car not falling apart, Blues Brothers-style, in some desolate bend of road.
I'm acclimated to the heat. I can tell when it's about to rain. I go to the gym four to five times per week, since I joined about a month and a half ago, and I like that routine.
The summer is ending and as the weather worsens I will get another crop of visitors. Since March only catamorphism has visited, and now cipherpunk is coming for Thanksgiving and I know others among you are mulling it over, and so is my other sister, the one who didn't visit yet. Visitors have helped me immensely in this past year! It is always good to see a familiar face, and to have someone around who has known me for a while. Particularly nerds, who share some subcultural points of reference that people here don't. *Last* time we did brunch I was saying "man, I should get a hobby, all my friends back home are hackers and makers, and they work on robots and arduinos and big art projects for the playa and stuff..." and the table full of lawyers just looked at me like I was crazy.
Another year here. It's not so bad. But, wow, only one more year...! I'd better get to seeing and doing all the things that I think, hey, I have two years to do, no rush.
There is a helicopter circling overhead again, to provide overhead cover while heavily armed and geared-up cops arrest somebody in the slum two blocks away. When I arrived I didn't know what was up with the helicopters. There is still so much I don't know.
Boris has a vet appointment on Thursday. I think - I hope - that his external fixator is coming off at last. He had it put on just before Thanksgiving, remember. That's been Boris's experience here. He's had his own journey to make. I'm glad I have him around, even though expensive cat is expensive.