This Time Next Week

This time next week, I’ll be sitting down, probably with Jim Whitelaw or Chris Smith (who is one of his underlings), going through stuff for the job.

Maybe I’ll be in the HR person’s office, going over benefits information, looking forward to that meeting being over so I can get on with working.

Most significantly, however, is the fact that I won’t be at Halliburton.

My post-university life has centred around two key elements: My relationship with Kim and my job at Halliburton.

Over the last three years, the two have been intertwined and, while my relationship with Kim has not been defined by my job at Halliburton, both have developed into long-term relationships. Now one of them is coming to an end.

The job was not without its frustrations: getting called out for things I didn’t do (probably because I was supposed to do them), working months on two or three projects, just to see them get cancelled or changed just before I finished them, and so on.

It’s had its successes, too. Most notably the programming projects, the technical writing, and the hours and hours of interacting with Engineering, trying to get the product out on time. Being support personnel is not an ideal career for me, but it did have its attractions.

I’ve also made friends. I don’t care to pretend that all of the people I’ve become friends with at Halliburton are people I will always keep in touch with. I’m going one direction and they’re going in another. However, I have made friends I care about, friends I will keep up with after I’m gone, and I will remember everyone I worked with until time leaves nothing but a vague impression. I will miss every one of them, whether they were stressors, friends, co-workers, bosses, mentors or just people I passed in the hallways and shared a quip with.

I will miss this place.