I got a new job, and have thoughts.

I start a new job next week as a Shift Manager at Pizza By Design, a build your own pizza place out on Cascade near the Ikea, I feel like this officially closes the chapter of my life that began with Unplugged Games opening.

That last bit there came to mind literally as I was typing it, and initially didn't really make sense to me so I spent a bit of time thinking about it and chatting with Zena. I came up with the idea that everything that I've done since the store closed has basically been a reaction to that whole ordeal and really amounted to treading water. This new gig is a clear upgrade from the previous job, with better pay, better hours, and probably less stress, I say probably because while I don't know how much stress being a manager at this place will generate, I rather suspect it will be less than the madness that my current job generates.

It's a clear stepping stone, whatever happens here, the experience I get will help me move on with my career, in a lot of ways this is going to be my first "Adult" job, by which I mean a job with obvious opportunities for advancement, an almost livable wage(this is Portland after all, I can't actually expect miracles), and a level of responsibility that I am comfortable with, it's nice.

Or I hope it will be, I have a natural caution being too optimistic about jobs, but the thing is even if it turns out I hate it, which I don't really expect to do, the pay will make it just about worth it anyway, and still be straight upgrade from my previous job.

I hadn't realized how much I was stressing finding a new job until I finally got an offer, I actually smiled a good chunk of the day even when I wasn't interacting with anyone, I um, I don't really do that much, or at all. So that is a good experience for me albeit not really one I can translate into job qualifications.

Another thought occurred to me, somewhat unrelated, I am really lucky with my job hunting in a lot of ways. I am... not the most devoted resume sender, since I really decided to look for a new job back in December or so I have only put out a couple of dozen resumes, of those I got a total of two callbacks, one of which resulted in a face to face interview, which resulted in my new job, I realize my qualifications are pretty decent if you look at them right, and apparently I am pretty good in interviews, but it's pretty darn lucky even so, I have friends who have been looking with rather more vigor than I for literally years, and other friends who have had the same amount of interviews over the last few months as I have submitted resumes, but they haven''t been hired yet, and they aren't unqualified either!
In some ways I feel bad about it, but my suffering doesn't make others suffer less, I acknowledge that I am luckier than I deserve to be sometimes though.

Anyway, it is with renewed hope that I look to the future now, and that ain't nothing.