An old hand
Ever since I started working, I thought it would take a while before I would become “one of the old hands.” Or, in the words of one of my co-workers, a dinosaur. Fresh out of university, first job and you tell me under two years I’d be a project team lead and one of the more experienced guys in the company, I would’ve laughed at you. It’s weird how it crept up on me, not unlike what happened with my involvement in the CSSS. In about a year I went from a guy who helped out a lot to knowing the ins and outs of the executive, most of the constitution, operation of the department and important procedures for student society operations. Mind you, considering I was there 5.5 years, that’s almost 20% of my time there so I guess that isn’t unreasonable.
At work I went from the newbie who built a hockey pool tracking system to a guy who works particularly well with stats and the back end of major projects. I never really liked being singled out in front of a crowd to be congratulated on a job well done. Being the centre of attention is uncomfortable for the most part, which is ironic because I always liked playing in a band at a rocking good concert. Just knowing that your co-workers/peers respect you and want you on their team is good enough for me. Although I do realize that without my manager saying “hey, he did a good job” in a staff meeting, the higher ups wouldn’t have been aware of my accomplishments, and the higher ups are how your career moves along. Life gives you opportunities; it’s when you’re willing to work for them and step out of your comfort zone in that you succeed. Funny thing is, I’m pretty sure I’m still the youngest person at work. Crazy, eh?
In a completely separate vein, I think I’ll be waiting a few months to pick up a DSLR. After taking some advice from the photography nerds I know among friends and co-workers, I’ll wait for the XSi to come out in April and grab an XTi body on sale. I’ll probably get an EF 50 f1.8 lens to start off because it’s a good bang for the buck lens from what I’ve read. I’ll have to do some more research to find a good lens that’ll give me a higher f-stop and a bit of zoom. I don’t expect the weather to cooperate until then to yield any decent pictures anyways. I haven’t geeked out like this in a while, I’d forgotten what it was like.
Random quote of the day: “Welcome to the Armpit Express. Please hold on for maximum safety.” - Bus driver on the 135 during the afternoon rush hour