Venus, Strawberry Jam and Quitting!

Life has been chugging along - each day silently folding into the next. I’ve been exhausted (stupid allergy meds - I’ve quit them so that’s helping). I’ve been excited. I’ve been scared and I’ve been... I don’t know. Me. Cooking. Reading. Geeking out over Game of Thrones and Mad Med. And Venus!

Today is my last full day as an employee in the corporate world. Sure, I become a contractor and work Fridays in the office and from home during the week until they hire someone, but today is my last day as a “responsible, 40 hour a week working person.” It feels weird!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m stoked to not make this horrific commute every day. Especially when there’s a fire and Bart doesn’t work and traffic is a bloody mess. I can’t wait to use that time to devote to studying for the GRE, reading my psychology textbook (the class I start on Monday) and focusing my energy on volunteering. It’s just so against me. I’m a control freak. I’m type A. I think I’ve mentioned before that I color coordinate my closet. I want to know what’s going to happen. I like knowing what’s in store for me in the future. It’s how I function. I find comfort *knowing.* I’m the person who plans out everything - my entire day, my weekend, my vacations. So, you can probably understand why I’m kinda freaking out a bit about my immediate future. I don’t know what my schedule is. I have volunteer interviews and training next week. I don’t know where I’ll be volunteering yet, who I’ll be working for or what I’ll be doing. I’ve played the game of “let’s not think about that...” but now it’s all there waiting for me come Monday morning! Exciting and terrifying!

One thing that always strikes me as odd is that you never know how much your co-workers like you until you leave. Why is that? I’ve had so many “you’ll make an excellent nurse!” “fantastic!” “I’m so excited for you!” and “I’ll miss working with you” statements over the last two weeks that it’s a bit overwhelming! I never knew people actually liked me that much. Why is that? Do we just hide under our “status quo” so much so that we don’t actually tell people what we think? Eh, probably. Whatev’s - I’m really not going to miss this work, but I will miss the people.

Venus crossing the sun. The black dot on the upper left at the edge of the reflection of the sun is where Venus is just starting it's journey!

So, one thing that’s cool about working with a bunch of science geeks, is that they go all out when crazy astronomical events like when Venus crossed the sun. I got to see it! There were two telescopes - one with the paper projection (see photo) and one with a proper solar filter so that you could really see Venus. Someone even brought eclipse glasses, but I couldn’t see anything with those. It was so cool! A planet! It exists! And I could *see* it! Yeah, I’m a geek. I’ve given up trying to hide from it.

Coworkers looking at the wonderfully creative way to project the Sun and Venus' travels.

Yeah, we're geeks!

Last weekend, I spent a second session canning. This was a much more pleasant experience than when I canned beets. I got a discounted flat of strawberries from the farmers market last Thursday and they were stinking up our fridge. So, after wedding dress shopping with A (*sniff, sniff* she’s so beautiful!) I went home and got to the sweaty, messy business of making and canning strawberry jam. First time ever! It was hard, hot and messy work (canning, people! stay with me!) but well worth the finished product of having 16 jars of beautiful jam finished! Hooray! I calculated the savings - about $100 of not buying expensive, organic jam at Rainbow (don’t get me wrong, I love supporting Rainbow, but c’mon, $8 per 10 oz of jam?!). And I even made it with honey! No processed sugar! Pamona’s pectin - I think I love you.

Other than that, the only other exciting thing in life aside from the whole minor detail of quitting my job is that I’m finally deciding on the finishing touches for my new bike! In order to bribe me into doing a century with him, I made R get me a custom made bike for my 30th birthday. And so I’ve decided to have it painted in pink. “Pig” pink. And, I’ve decided to call it “Pig.” :D I am SO ridiculously happy to name my new bike Pig. Yeah - I’m quarky. I color coordinate my closet, make kombucha, can strawberry jam and call my bike Pig. And it makes me happy.

Anyway, get out there and actually let people know what you think of them. Pretend that today is the last time you’ll be working with someone and let them know how you feel. Why not? Why pretend? And really, why wait? Nothing in life is forever. Not even Pig.

Overripe strawberries ready to be made into jam and canned!

All 16 jars of canned strawberry jam. Yum!