It's been too long and I've been busy figuring out how to work from home, how to work for pharma, how to not work for Children's and how to get my goddamn scanner to work period.
I spent the week in San Francisco for training and it went better than expected. Beautiful city, swanky hotel, fabulous dinners and 15 hours a day of being "on". I had to think and retain a boatload of information. I had to chat with strangers all day long.
Interrupted train of thought here while the man next to me at Einstein Bagels chews obscenely loud and smacks tongue to roof of mouth after every sip of coffee. Not cool dude in khakis with your own tupperware of revolting looking food. Why are you even here if you're eating your own food? Also, you are way too young to have such irritating eating habits. Save that for when you're 80 and stop giving a shit. Jesus.
Anyway, back to being nice and sociable all day long with people I just met. This may come as a surprise, but that is not my comfort zone. I mean- I can fake it very well but by 10pm I'm done. I need to not smile and not listen to what position your kid is on his baseball team. And for the love of everything holy- I can not discuss weather patterns with anyone after 8pm. That part of my brain has limits.
It was daunting to learn about the industry side of the job. All new concepts for me. Things I've been able to avoid for 38 years. Business acumen would be the very last 2 words to describe me. I know how to spend money, I know how to earn money. I know you need to spend less than you earn. That's about the extent of my business knowledge. So while I was sitting in this beautiful meeting room from 7am to 5pm learning about multiple myeloma as well as the business model of the company- I was expecting to be bored to tears. Surprisingly, I was actually interested in the industry part. Maybe it's the new-ness. Maybe it's because I feel like I need to fully understand my role and the company vision. Maybe it's because I've always wondered what non-clinical people do in an office all day and how that translates into making stupid amounts of cash. I haven't figured it out just yet. What I learned impressed me and I didn't have any moments of "what-have-I-gotten-myself-into" while I was there. On our last day in San Francisco a few of us went to the Pier and were chatting by the bay watching the seals sunbathe. One of the other nurses asked me what I thought and if I had any regrets leaving the hospital and entering the pharma world. I had to pause. "Regret" I said, "takes much longer to develop. Ask me in a year from now".
I know too little to know what I think about this move. I just don't have all the information yet. What I know so far is that I like learning new things. No matter the subject. With the exception of what baseball position your kid is on his junior varsity team. That, and any information about your kids sports prowess for that matter, is painfully boring. Tell your husband and your mom.
So, I'll be back in San Francisco next week for the final training week. One thing that I didn't have to worry about is how my kids fared with me away for the week. They did great. Marc did great. In fact, they behaved better than they do when I'm home. This is still a work in progress and as I travel more, I anticipate more challenges.
But for today, I'm leaning in to my career.
