Working

Have not updated in a long time because my life has been going through some big changes.  I finally got a real job!  Although I have been working part time for the past four years, this is my first full time position.  And to make things better, it is 100% related to what I majored in: Chemistry.  There are a lot of problems with this job though.  The first and biggest one is the location: it is all the way down in Irvine so with traffic it usually takes me a little more than an hour to get there every day.  The way back is about the same, too.  The other problem is that it is a relatively small lab, and it is obvious that the owner is totally willing to cut corners.  So the lab is missing basic things, like good air conditioning, networking and Internet access for every computer, up to date hardware and software, etc…  The computer that I use at work has no Internet and is still on Windows 2000!  It really feels like I’ve jumped back in time 15 years.  I actually would not mind having no Internet access, but the lab building blocks phone signals so I can’t even use my 4G.  True 1st world problems.

Ultimately, this job is really important to me because it will give me a lot of experience and will add a bunch of stuff to my resume.  One of the biggest mistakes I made in college was not taking internships in related fields, so I was sorely lacking in job experience.  So it was good that I was somehow able to land this job without any experience whatsoever.  Because of the issues, it is not a job that I plan on staying at forever.  It is really just a stepping stone to get something better in the future.  Hopefully that will happen within the next year.

But yeah, I feel like I have no time to do anything now.  Driving for more than 2 hours every day is really brutal.  I don’t usually feel tired when working, but when I get home the exhaustion comes down like a hammer.  Obviously, I do have a little bit of free time on the weekdays, but I’m so tired that I would rather rest than do anything.  Weekends feel way too short now too.  The worst part about all this is that despite my complaining, I know that some people have it even worse than me.  Some people have to make the same kind of drive, but when they get home they have to cook and take care of their family.  I don’t know if I can ever do that with my current job.