A little bit has happened since January.
WORK
I didn’t get the raise I requested. I was given a 3% raise, a small increase Trump’s fuckery had annihilated.
I was told that many people weren’t going to get a raise, which was not true. My penultimate manager informed me that he hadn’t received a raise in three or four years. While I sympathize with him and anyone who didn’t get a raise, they don’t pay my bills, and I don’t pay their bills.
I felt a bit salty and tried to mask my displeasure as best I could during the Zoom meeting. I also knew that the wrong people were receiving pay increases, which I mentioned in the conversation. For example, one guy at my office received a 7% pay raise after threatening to quit. So much for not everyone is getting a raise.
I’m not mad at him for playing the game. Shit! Get yours. I am mad/salty because he complained about the company incessantly for months on end and was dead set on quitting. He even had a final interview that looked very promising. When he informed me that he was staying with the company because the company had giving him a 7% salary increase, I told him that he had no right to complain going forward and stopped speaking with him.
I lost all respect for him.
I think I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: Don’t participate in your oppression and then bitch about it. The company is a shit show and making moves for short-term gain jeopardize long-term goals.
I don’t pay his bills, and he doesn’t pay mine. He better not cry wolf when he finds himself on the receiving end of bad news.
Moving on.
My manager is great. We get along very well.
She also approved my alternative work arrangement, which proved to me that she’s a great leader. I had a serious family matter to deal with, so I requested to work from home for two months. Without any serious inquiry, she approved me request.
I’m not a fan of working from home, but I appreciate the benefit especially when you need to take care of family.
Given the good relationship I have with my manager and with some of my coworkers, I’m staying put until the end of the year.
Plus, I hear the job market is absolute shit right now, so I’m not going to expend any time in looking for a job when the one I have isn’t bad at all.
PERSONAL
I’m still working with my French tutor and studying every single day for the DELF B2 exam, for which I registered and paid. The exam is a month away and while I speak more fluidly than when I started working with my French tutor in November, I still feel unprepared.
I especially feel unprepared for the writing portion of the exam. I need to start focusing on the subjunctive and conditional tenses. I have plenty of resources that will help me. It’s just a matter of rearranging my studying routine to accommodate those areas.
I’m nervous 😰 and excited 🙃.
In my February post, I wrote about the difficulty of studying for two exams. I was originally studying to take the DELF B2 (French) and CILS B2 (Italian). I wanted to have both language certificates on my resume by the summer. Shortly after that post, I decided to stop studying Italian and ended my iTalki lessons.
For the move I want to make, I need to be very comfortable speaking French. Having the CILS on my resume will be a plus, but it’s not crucial and mandatory. There’s another exam date for the CILS later this year, which I’m considering taking.
I’ll make that decision some time in the summer.
I’m still holding on sharing what I’m planning because it’s still too early in the year, and I don’t want to jinx it.
I increased my time at the gym. Working from home has been great, but it’s also been a bit bad. I’ve gained some weight.
I try to move about the apartment, but it’s not the same as commuting to work using the Subway. Walking up and down flights of stairs is exercise. Working while standing is exercise.
I don’t snack in between meals, so I’m not eating more. It’s definitely the lack of movement that’s contributed to my thighs expanding. I’ll be back in the office in June, so I’ll be back to my usual weight in no time.
Life is quiet. I know that’s not easy to read because the greater world is falling apart. I really can’t complain about anything, and I wouldn’t want to either.
Here’s to the future! Summer is almost here!