"Saturday night's alright"

Home
I am not going to be homeless come July 1. I just got an email from the house in Columbia Heights that I was hoping for. I’d been selected to fill one of the two open rooms!

This past week has been so stressful and my days and nights have been filled with anxiety about finding a place—and specifically about being accepted to this particular house. Now my fear is that I can still get screwed and be homeless. So I’m pushing to sign the paperwork and handover my checks as soon as possible. My mother will be here in less than one week and I am so relieved that I have a place before she arrives.

I can focus on sorting my stuff and packing now that I have an idea of what my new housing situation can accommodate. My new room will be sunny and a pretty good size with a walk-in closet. So I’ll be able to keep a few things I had planned on chucking. Notably, I should be able to keep my plants and few other semi-essential things.

Work
I got news on Friday that my coworker was offered a great position in another office. I am so excited for her as she’d been “paying her dues” as a staff assistant for 8-9 months. I am worried about how her departure will affect my workload—until they hire someone new. But mostly, I’m concerned about being the “senior” staff assistant on a two-person team. I’ve only been working in the office for two months, and though I know my tasks pretty well, I’ll have to learn her tasks in order to properly train her replacement. It should be interesting.

I am so glad that I did not take the original staff assistant job I was offered. I got a taste of what I would have to do on Friday, when a barrage of calls came in criticizing a particular vote and I was asked to help answer the phone. I don’t think that I’ve ever been so irritated at work and more ready to write-off activists as a bunch of rude/nasty people. I don’t have a problem with passionate people who are informed and anxious to comment on a particular issue. But I do have a problem with folks who aim their disdain at others—especially a low level staffer like myself—who can’t do anything to calm the caller or defend their boss.

But whatever, that’s the thing about political office—about life. Not everyone is going to like you and some people will really dislike you. You can’t take it personally and you must always surround yourself with loyal supporters and candid confidants who’ll be there even after you’ve made the hardest, most controversial (and perhaps, worst) decision of your career/life.