A new job with side effects and a mixed christmas.
Sunday, 12.22.2013 - 5:52 pm.

This was a very eventful, hectic week. For one, on wednesday Andrew got his Master's degree! I'm so proud of him, he finally got the weight of his thesis off his back. And now we both can set eyes on the next frontier, i.e. a Doctorate degree abroad. I don't think it'll happen next year as we'd hoped but that's ok.

Second, I got a teaching job! My first real teaching job! I'm gonna be a university professor! It's a small gig at a private university. It's gonna be a lot of work though, the psychology career opened two years ago and I'm teaching third year. That means I have to make up the syllabus and everything from scratch. The pay isn't much but it's a great place to start for me.

This is thanks to my friend Tamara, who may not be happy about it. See, she recommended me for this job at university 1. But she also recommended me for teaching another course, in her university, university 2. She's having her baby in january so she needed a co-professor. U1 called me first for an interview on friday morning, and I took the job inmediately. It scared the crap out of me but also made me very excited.

U2 called me second, on friday morning, setting up an interview for the same day in the afternoon. I didn't appreciate the rush but I said I'd go. But after talking with U1, I realized I couldn't handle both jobs. I mean, I already have three jobs. Two 12-hours-per-week each, one part-time. Sure, some days I got nothing to do in either of them but some other days I'm going nuts. I get the feeling Tamara thinks I can do better than being a research assistant, but I'm still learning the trades of my profession and for now it's helping me attain my professional goals and get my name out there.

When I got to U2, I waited for 30 minutes and it turns out the lady who was going to interview me was gone. Somebody else took the task to do it and I just wasn't into it: the atmosphere, the course itself. And this confirmed my hunch and decided everything for me: the classes were on the same day and at the same time that the classes at U1. I'd have to pass on this one.

And so I think she isn't happy. I don't know. She used to bring up how I didn't "want to" attend her wedding (I explained her repeteadly I couldn't, she got married nearly 1,000 miles up north from here and I'd blown my monthly budget on a small preventive surgery). That makes me fear she'll bring up how I ...I don't know, how I was supposed to be her sidekick in this course and instead blew her off to go work somewhere else. To another place she happened to recommend me to but, oh, no, I was supposed to take both jobs because who else is she going to team up with and how can I leave her alone and how can I be just an assistant, don't I want a better job??? Sometimes I feel she believes I'm unemployed.

Or maybe I'm just being unfair. I just fear she'll take it the wrong way. I wrote her an e-mail telling her about me taking U1 and passing U2, and mostly to thank her profusely for believing in me, for trusting and appreciating my abilities, and for recommending me based on that. I have the job thanks to her. I asked her if it would help if I recommended someone but she hasn't replied.

I hope she isn't mad.

***

This christmas is going to be weird. Most of my family will be in New Mexico: parents; Brother #1, his wife and two kids; Sister and her kid; Brother #2, his wife, one kid and one eagerly-awaited fetus (I kind of hope she's born on my birthday!). Brother #3 and his wife will stay at my home country, and will spend the holidays with his mother-in-law only, the rest of her family will also be out of town. His wife and MIL don't always get along so he's anticipating some distress. Hopefully not. I'm sorry about this anyway.

Me...I was sort of looking forward to it here but it won't be as good as I'd hoped. Andrew's mom is not coming, she's taking care of Andrew's sister who just got a major surgery and is being screened for cancer. So it was going to be Andrew, his dad, brother and grandfather and me. It sounded more than ok, they're a fun bunch.

But then this 80-year-old lady that looks after the grandfather, his niece, says she'll stay for christmas. She's a very unpleasant lady who's always lived alone, so she always has to do things her way and listens to no one. She starts talking and runs with the words and never stops, and talks to us about the grandfather in third person when he's right in front of her. She fuckin' sleeps in the bed next to the grandfather's; that's Andrew's grandmother's bed! She passed away and two or three days later this disguting lady starts coming to the house and sleeping there! There are two spare beds in the house other than that one so it's not a matter of space. Have some fucking respect!

She makes remarks to emphasize how "helpless" the grandfather is and how she is needed around and how she knows best. Which is why she is staying for christmas. Christmas is ruined. You may think this is dramatic...well, hell, yes, it is! Everybody hates this lady and no one kicks her out because unfortunately she is needed to look after the grandfather (who is also unhappy and annoyed by her). She keeps coming because she steals grandmother's belongings and hopes to get the house when grandfather passes away. She's done it before in the family. The house is supposed to be inherited to Andrew's brother, as it's written in the will, but anyway, this unpleasant old lady takes things from the house with her from time to time.

After lunch with her and the grandfather today at noon, which is when Andrew and I learned she'd be staying for christmas, we were both very annoyed. We stopped by the supermarket and seeing chocolates and cookies and chips and drinks and christmas music CDs made me think of my family and past holidays and I started to tear up. I can't believe I'm not going to be with them. It was all so wonderful for 27 years, with the decoration, the food, the colors and lights, the family jokes. My 28th christmas is shaping up to be gray and hot. I hate how here it's christmas in summer.

BUT! I'll be with Andrew. He was going to stay at his grandfather's house from today 'til the 24th but since the unpleasant lady is staying, he gets to stay home. We may come home early the evening of the 24th and have a good one ourselves.

Hopefully everything will be ok.

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