Wednesday, July 28, 2004

thumbs up

today i had the very first performance review of my working life.

this means i've been at my current job for 3 months. i feel like it's been far longer. this a good thing; an indication that i fit in very nicely. the review went well. my boss could have nailed me on a few things, but he was very generous, and rated me far higher than i rate myself. and i thought i was pushing my luck.

i am now an official employee, with access to all the privileges therein. i didn't get a raise, which i was secretly hoping for even though i don't think people always get those so soon in their tenure. we can only get raises when we get reviewed, so it's disheartening to think it'll be another nine months before i can obsessively, secretly calculate my new pay rate.

a good lesson to learn, and i've been schooled a few times now, is that things in life that are worth having are worth having because you had to work for it. you can only appreciate something if you have to earn it; usually your appreciation is proportional to the amount of work you had to put in.

as i mentioned before, i've never worked at a company were there were reviews and procedure for giving out raises. although i've steadily worked my way up the income ladder, i don't think i've ever been given a raise for simply doing a good job.

Wednesday, July 21, 2004

three dot journalism, without the dots

i have a gmail account. my car has a five speed now. work is for jerks. summer is not hot in san francisco, which is ideal. i have one last payment to make on a credit card i've been maxed out on for 7 years. i've been hanging out with my friends a lot more. i started a savings account. my vegetable intake has increased. i talk to my brothere frequently. i read a book every single day. i haven't been sleeping enough. i drink tea several times a day. i've eaten at good restaurants recently. people are still rude idiots.