First day blues

In less than three days I finish my current job and start a whole new chapter with a new company. So gosh darn exciting! I'm going to be working on the biggest magazine title in South Africa currently, and with a team that I can only grow from. It's also one of the biggest publishing houses in the country, so there's opportunity in the future. It seems like a pretty good career move.

It's always daunting walking into a company for the first time and sitting at your new desk with your not-so-new computer (always remember to take disinfectant wipes to work on your first day - the keyboard and phone are crawling with bacteria, and, let's face it, you could be replacing someone who had to leave because they showed symptoms of the bubonic plague). I must be honest, the first day is probably the most scary. You have to say hi and try remember names and hope that someone will tell you where the loo is before you wet your chair. You have no idea who's cool and who's not, and if there will be a microwave to warm your lunch.

It's like being the new kid in high school. You hope like hell you make a good first impression.

I tend to over-share when I'm nervous. Or I become so quiet that people wonder why they employed me. Inside I'm shy, okay.

But the over-sharing thing is what concerns me. Ever have those pregnant pauses where you don't know what to say? I NEVER do. I fill them. You don't speak for a second? Baby, I will fill the gap and ramble. About anything. Usually Britney Spears. Which either gets me a friend for life, or more silence. Which makes me fill the silence more. So I talk about feathers. Silence. Then I sing... "O may I go a wandering, along life's mountain track... Valdereeeeeeeeeee..." Stone cold silence.

You get the picture.

So this first day will be different. I will walk in remembering I am closer to 40 than I am to 20, and talk about mature things like Julius Malema and the rise of atheism in the modern world.

Hmmmmm...

Valdereeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee