I've been offered a yearlong contract at work. I'm filling in for a woman who is on maternity leave. They gave me the contract on Thursday, and I'll be a full-time employee until next July (after that, who knows?).
I'm thrilled that I have a contract now. I really like what I do, really like my office, really like my co-workers. I've been a casual there since April, but I now feel like I belong there. It's a great place to work. It also has a fabulous view of the city and is within cycling distance of home. It's kind of funny, because they gave me an interview because they wanted me to work in the suburban office but they've now given me a position in the city. I have to say, I'm pleased with that, too - the commute to the suburbs really does take a lot out of you, especially since their days are 11 or 12 hours. So now I know what I'll be doing for the next year.
That in itself is weird. I feel strange to have a grown-up job, with grown-up things like sick days and paid vacation and a retirement account. But it's exciting, too.
In other news, there's a film festival on. We've been taking advantage of it, as we bought passes that allowed us to see 11 films in two weeks. We saw Michael Moore's Sicko over the weekend, and if you haven't seen it, you should. If you live in America, you'll wish you didn't, and if you don't, you'll be glad you don't. It is biased and one-sided and unfair and kind of obnoxious, as you would expect from Michael Moore. But it raises some very good points and is funny and touching, as you'd also expect from him. He suggests marrying a Canadian for their free health care, which our Canadian friends bristled at.
The best film we've seen so far, though, is a documentary called Deep Water (and no, it's not the one about sharks, that's Open Water). It's about a round-the-world boat race in 1968. It focused on one guy, Donald Crowhurst, who didn't really know much about sailing and had a leaking boat. It was an incredible story and very well told. He faced a heartbreaking choice - he signed a contract that if he dropped out of the race he would have to buy back his boat, and thus he would have to go bankrupt and his family would lose their home. But he knew that the boat wasn't ready, and he knew that he couldn't make it around the world. He pretty much lost his mind during the 200+ days he was at sea. Any of you who are English - do you remember this race? What was it like to be hearing about it in the papers?
I'm sorry we don't have any pictures to go with this post. We'll try and get some up next time.
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3 comments:
Congratulations Cass, that's wonderful news, and great to know that you are enjoying the job so much. Don't worry about being grown up, it comes to all of us in the end!
With love,
Anne-Marie
Congratulations. Is your pension, as they say "portable," if Michael Moore hasn't persuaded you to become a permanent Ozzie?
The Crowhurst Affair attracted a considerable amount of attention at the time, - first of all trying to work out what had happened and then trying to assess his mental state, - not, as I recall, however, treating it as so rational an economic dilemma as, by your account, the film seems to have done. There have been several thorough books on the events, I believe.
Anne-Marie has sent me Leslie's detailed letter on the attractions of his course, of which I am very glad to hear.
Congratulations on the contract - fabulous news! That trip out to the suburbs really sounded terrible, so I'm glad you're in the city where you can do more fun things after work, too, instead of spending all of your time on the commute.
So what fun things are you going to do with both your stable income and your spare time, at least once this film festival is over?
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