a good run

thursday was tough, the couple of hours of sleep i got weren't particularly helpful. the morning meeting was very encouraging, though, it's the second time i've pitched one of my ideas to the guy but this time he seemed really receptive to it. i also got really good advice regarding salary negotiations from one of his employees.

i waited forever for gd at the sewing store, we picked up lunch from lekker vegan which was phenomenal, but which took a lot longer to prepare than expected so we were in a rush to get to the company gardens to meet my sister and her kids (and grandkid). being harassed by the homeless wasn't nice.

we had a good time in the gardens, then moved to our private garden for a really nice afternoon. the kids were all over the place and mr smear was misbehaving, but overall it was fun.

after finally getting mr smear to bed i settled down to race against the clock on one of the job applications i had open... but when i opened it, it was completely different to what i had expected and i was way to tired to be able to take it on. i sent them a message to say "thank you, but no", then crashed. i slept pretty well.

today: we're finally over our antibiotics, and it looks like they've done the trick. i am feeling much better.

i woke up to a three hour technical challenge, i completed the tasks in really good time, spent a further half an hour testing the shit out of them, and clicked the submit button. i nailed the first task, passed the second task with a decent score, and completely bombed the third - i clearly misunderstood or missed something important.

i walked to my hopefully new employer for the dreaded salary negotiation. first, the dog wasn't there when i arrived so my entrance was much more pleasant. second, we began with the contract terms and the more we talked the happier we both became. finally, he asked me how much i wanted, and i told him. he hesitated, punched some buttons on his calculator, and then agreed.

i walked out of there in a weird place: we're ready to go, but he still needs to ratify the contract and salary with what's effectively the parent company. if all is well, i'll be signing on with them and it looks like a REALLY exciting place to be.

when i arrived home i saw an email i'd received from the technical challenge in the morning, i was surprised to read that they're actually really happy with my results! now they want to test me for cultural fit. it's nice to have a backup plan.

when mr smear's new girlfriend left, gd and i took him swimming after which my mom gave us all a lift to the temple. after kiddush we headed to plant for a delicious semi-celebratory meal (i even had a cider), and then came home to put mr smear to bed. i've been doing random things for the last hour, i'm exhausted and a bit dehydrated and i'm not really sure how much of today was real. just like the fact that i still haven't internalized that after four years of grinding and anxiety, we're finally out of the debt we generated when we moved to south africa.

on the assumption that it was all real, i'm feeling like 2020 actually might be a good one.