Ah, fall. Late autumn. Early winter. Whatever.

Time for transitions.

At least this time it's at the END of the semester, not the beginning.

New place to live! A few blocks from current place. I'll be chillin' in one room of a three-bedroom house. Hoping to keep costs low since Pattywhack will be moving north with his brother and I can't afford to room with them. I also adore my current neighborhood and I'm reluctant to leave.

But it's still moving. Again.

Maybe I'll buy a Kindle so I can stop hauling so many hundreds of pounds of books from place to place.

...nah.

New job!, I moved to another vet clinic down the street from the old one. The difference in my sanity and happiness is breathtaking. I haven't said much about the old job here, in case old boss was stalking me. It wouldn't surprise me. Let's just say she's a psychotic draconian madwoman and leave it at that. You know me. I have fucking nerves of steel. She told me I had to start working more hours there, and I started crying. For someone as perennially chipper and "let's make the best of it!" as me, that is a very, very bad sign.

But the new job! Awesome people! A more down-to-earth clientèle! I get to DO STUFF again! Like drawing blood and cleaning wounds and gentling scared dogs and prepping for surgeries and YAY!

Sometime during the past year, the idea that "I'm damned good at my job" was battered into oblivion as I was criticized for mistakes I didn't make, corrected for not following policy introduced then retracted then re-introduced, and then yelled at for attempting to anticipate the whims of my higher-ups. I became another anxious peon, afraid to act independently. I forgot how many things I can DO. And DO WELL. Yeah, call it the classic Protestant work ethic, but I genuinely like working and being useful and making a difference. New job? I feel like I'm doing all of these things. The atmosphere is warm and helpful, not toxic and neurotic. My coworkers are puzzled by my flinchiness. I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop, for my boss to directly contradict herself from one statement to the next. So far? They like me. I've gotten more positive feedback and genuine compliments in the past couple weeks than I've had in a year. And no one is snarky, nasty, unhelpful, whiny, sarcastic, or mean. It's night and motherfucking sunshiney day.

I can breathe again.

Now, as soon as this foster puppy goes to her new home and I finish up this (absolutely delightful and awesome-tastic) semester, I'm going to sleep for a week.