Starting Fresh

As those of you who have been reading "me" for a while already know, I was "reorganized" out of my job at The Minnesota Opera last summer. In most cases, losing a job would result in a fairly clean break from that old place. I mean, if you work in an office and you lose your job, you don't go back to hang out in your old cubicle. But when you've been working in a service industry, there is inevitable carry-over which can't be avoided. Of course, if you leave a job at the grocery store, you still need to go buy groceries, but you could go to a different store to get them. Well... If you lose your job at the only opera company in town -- one for which you already hold tickets for the following season -- you're kind of stuck crossing paths. 

My first real path-crossing came about last November, the same weekend as the time change, and was documented here. (I'll wait if you want to go read up on it...)

In the past 6 months, I've spent a whole lot of time job-searching, and soul-searching, and... finally... spring cleaning. And you've all been polite enough to ride along with me through all of it. What I haven't mentioned is that, along the way, I've actually applied for a couple of jobs back at my old stomping grounds. Applied for -- but not even made it to the interview process for -- a couple of jobs. 

** Snarky Sidenote ** Not to belabor the point, but I even applied for a position which was at least 80% directly taken from my old job, and only 20% new. The first time around they hired someone they all liked, who might possibly have inflated his abilities just a tad. He only lasted about 4 months. They recently replaced him with someone else who is -- surprise -- a great friend of the department, but -- again -- may or may not have any relevant experience. Hmmm... On the plus side, it makes me happy when I look at the number of people they've hired since I left and realize that what I did all on my own now takes 2.5 people to do...  ** End Snarky Sidenote **

I've been doing my best to not take any of this too personally. To keep it all in perspective. To move on with my life. And then came time for our latest set of show tickets. 

Christopher and I went to see "The Barber of Seville" last night, meeting up with Libby (in town from San Francisco for the weekend) and her guy in the process. (We also, oddly enough, ran into my cousin Katie's dad and stepmom, who were seated directly in front of us.)  Libby and I were both a little apprehensive about going to an opera after being away. Libby was simply unsure about having to deal with everyone (even though she left on very good terms), and I was a little unsure about having to go in and explain my continuing saga of unemployment. 

Oddly enough, we didn't run into anyone before the show or at intermission. It wasn't until we went to the post-show party at Pop!! that we had to do the meet-n-greets. (And, yes, we knew that was going to happen.) It was interesting, to say the least. Libby was greeted by screaming people running across the room to talk to her. And I got slightly-less-enthusiastic "Gee. We haven't seen you in ages." reactions. Not to say that anyone was rude or anything, but the other three of us were simply Libby's entourage for the evening. (And I can hear Libby protesting that characterization of the situation already... Check back, I'm sure a comment or two will be posted about that once she's back in San Francisco and has a chance to read this.)

The food was so-so. The drinks were nigh impossible to get. The staff seemed like they couldn't be bothered with any of us. But, with none of those distractions to interrupt us, we carved out a nice enough hour or so sitting and talking. It was great getting caught up with Libby and finally getting to meet her guy. And it was good hearing what's been going on with a couple of the Opera folks who came and sat with us for a while. 

Even better, when I was asked what I was up to, I was able to say "I'm starting a new job on Monday, and I've got some freelancing in the works." I didn't even stretch the truth or fudge any of my answers. It was great. (In case you're worried that you missed it... No. I haven't talked about my new job in here, yet. I figure I'll start it, first, so that I don't jinx it!)

So now it's Easter morning, and Christopher and I have tucked into the chocolate-y goodness of our Easter baskets. We'll be heading for Stillwater this afternoon. And tomorrow I'll start fresh with my new gig, putting my old job one more step behind me as I start fresh. So far it sounds like spring might be starting out well.