back to the "real world"

this was the first week of the rest of my (foreseeable) life. that might sound a little scary, but it's actually quite comforting. there's no end point and no final goal to be attained, and for now i'm right where i want to be, so i can just focus on making the most of every day. it's such a relief, following the perpetual guilt and inadequacy of grad school. in some ways it's like the difference between dating and being in a committed long-term relationship. i've already found the temptations are similar, too. this morning i got an e-mail from a professor at the University of Amsterdam saying that i'd be a great fit for an open post-doc position there. i'm not thinking about leaving my new job, but being committed doesn't mean that other options stop being attractive.

the Real World Welcome Committee has done its job from as far away as Hong Kong (thanks everybody), but let's be honest, it's a stretch to call what i'm entering the real world. first of all, i work in Silicon Valley, which is host and home to many rich, eccentric, and/or mildly autistic engineers. you see things here you wouldn't anywhere else. on my first day, i sat looking out the front window of the shuttle bus as we sat in traffic on 101. in front of us was a shiny, mint-condition, red PT Cruiser with a native american-themed vanity plate and two stickers in the back window. one was a picture of a dream catcher, the other read “I Y VMWare”. a camoflage-sleeved arm held a cigarette out the window.

second of all, it's unfair, even by Silicon Valley standards, to call Google the "real world". i'm so pampered that, on my first Friday afternoon, i actually felt a little sad that i had to leave for two days. weekends mean i have to feed myself again and sit on a cold toilet seat.

but don't worry, that faded once Friday night got underway. in fact, i'm loving this notion of a "weekend", it's like getting a bite-sized vacation every week. and i think my two-week in-town vacation between Hawaii and starting work was good preparation for the weekends. for one, i learned how to cope with a stretch of free time in my natural habitat without triggering my guilt response. (perhaps unfortunately that laid-back attitude extends to getting blog posts up in a timely manner.)

now that it's Sunday afternoon, i am heartened by the thought that i'm going back to work tomorrow morning and i'm almost looking forward to getting up at 6am to catch the early shuttle. if i'm going to be working a 40-hour week for a paycheck, i guess i can't ask for much more than that.