Mad World

I haven't posted in a while, but it's been a busy couple of weeks. Besides the upcoming site visit at work, I've been on the road the last two weekends in a row.The first was a trip to another New England state to watch my niece compete in the regional gymnastics meet. This was quite the family road trip, in fact, quite the blended family road trip. C is my brother's daughter. He and her mother were in a long-term relationship but never married, and after C was born, finally broke up for good. C now splits her time between them, and also spends a lot of time with my mom, who watches her several days a week after school. C's mother K is now involved with a great guy, B. B is older, and has two college-age children (both of whom are really great kids) and can always be found at these gymnastics meets with K, cheering C on.So, two weekends ago found me, my brother J, C, K and B all driving up to Maine together for the meet. My mom and aunt D came up separately in another car. We spent the night there, mom and D in one room, K and B in their room, while J, C and I bunked in a third. I don't think J and B will ever go fishing together, but it was nice and comfortable, all of us hanging out in one room eating junk food and drinking beer while watching the Celtics as C ran up and down the hallways screaming along with the 100 other little gymnasts who were also staying there. The meet went very well, and C placed high on most of her events (we won't talk about the beam) and high overall. Not bad!Last weekend found me in Albuquerque, visiting my Dancing in Socks Guy and ... having a second interview with the company I hope to get hired by. I don't want to jinx it, but it went very well. Phrases like "we're very interested" and "what are your salary requirements" and "what would the time line for your moving be?" were bandied about. This job is a very good fit for me, my qualifications are about 99% congruent with the job description and the technology seems feasible to me. We are at the reference-checking stage, and I don't anticipate any problems with that. Generally when I get to this stage I get the job, but there was one time I did not -- one of the higher-ups decided I wouldn't like the salary they were offering, even though I said it was fine, and it was, and that was that.So, it looks good, but you never know. We'll see.Most interesting in all of this is Grant Leader's reaction. While it's tempting to just flounce out of this job with an obscenity-laden goodbye, in reality, I can't do that. Too many other people, people who have been very good to me, would be affected and as brutal as the last few months were under GL, the fact remains that GL was also very good to me at one point in time. So, I sat down with GL and explained the situation, and it went very well.There are two things at play here -- one, GL has been quite friendly and reasonable for the last two months. Whether that's because meds have been adjusted or the planets are aligned just so, I don't know, but things have been great. The second, and probably most helpful thing, is that this job is in Albuquerque, where my fiance lives, and even GL doesn't want to stand in the way of True Love. This is a perfect out for both of us -- GL can accept my leaving for this reason, whereas if I just went down the road apiece and got a similar job it would be seen as a betrayal.With all this in mind, I asked GL to be a reference. That might, at first glance, seem like professional suicide, but I have another from the University as well, and while GL is emotionally labile, GL is basically honest. As it happens, there was nothing to worry about. I was BCC'd on the written one GL sent off, and it was positively glowing.I am getting nervous about this ... the possibility of moving. I've moved myself cross-country before, but this time I find myself obsessing about things. The cats ... how will they deal with it? What if one escapes on the trip? I'm getting them micro-chipped (which sets off a whole other line of obsessive worrying about feline cancer) and they will be wearing collars with tags (which sets off yet another line of obsessive fears that they will strangle themselves, as they don't normally wear collars) and either mom or Dancing in Socks Guy will drive out with me so I'll have help, but nonetheless, I worry.Idiotically enough, I don't worry about what should be the real fear, how my little feline heart patient, Lilly, will do. She's asymptomatic, but with feline heart conditions this means nothing, as that can change very fast. I suppose I don't worry as she's already traveled -- her foster mother flew with her (in the cabin, not as freight) from Cleveland to Boston and Lilly weathered that trip just fine. I'll have a supply of emergency meds with me, and God knows I know what to do if she goes into congestive heart failure, and for preparedness' sake I'll have all their medical records with me and a list of vets along the route ... well, maybe I am more worried than I thought I was.So, that's where I am now. Updates as the situation warrants.Elle