One month already?

I realized with a slight shock today that I've been in the US for 4 weeks now! Geez, where did time go? I still don't feel like I'm settled in, far from it! Maybe the trip to get a bed and some furniture at IKEA tomorrow will help make this place seem a bit more like home (STILL no Social Security number though, I might add!!!!).
It's also been a week since the big IBM takeover announcement and things have cooled off visibly. People spent the first few days trading horror and good stories about other IBM acquisitions they'd either been in or heard about, poking fun at IBM's "THINK" and "INNOVATE" campaigns and generally talking the subject to death. Now everyone's pretty much resigned themselves to the inevitable and most are starting to see the positive side of this. Me included.
I haven't worried much about this at all - surpsingly enough since there is so much at stake for me. But for some unknown reason, I really, truly think that it'll work itself out somehow. And whilst it's really not "business as usual" at work, like we were told when the news broke, life still goes on in my job and I am starting to find my feet slowly but surely. I guess I could even say that I'm a bit underwhelmed at the moment as most of the stuff I need to do depends on my coworkers helping me or showing me how to. And of course, I don't want to constantly bug them and be on their backs about it all the time so I do get bored every now and then. But I am noticing a difference in the way I feel when waking up in the morning and thinking about going to work. I don't dread it. It's such a nice feeling, I can't even describe it.
I remember particularly the last year in Woking when I woke up thinking "Is it the weekend yet?" and having that feeling in the pit of your stomach that usually tells you it's time to chuck it all in and find something else. I remember how much I hated the sight and sounds of one particular idiot team leader that made all our lives hell (and continues to do so for the poor souls I left behind). And I compare it to now, when I'm not exactly excited about going to work but not dreading it either and looking forward to the 30-40 minute drive where I can listen to the radio and try to gather my thoughts for the day, where I can still drive down Route 3 and smile at some of the beautiful sights alongside of it.
All in all, the quality of my life has improved enormously and whilst that intense, ecstatic happiness I've felt at Expo is still eluding me, at least I am content and am not hating it. In my book, that's a huge achievement. So I continue to enjoy what I have now and leave it up to fate or destiny or whatever you wanna call it to point me to the next steps with or without IBM! LOL

And since the weekend's here, I intend to use it to go to IKEA to buy furniture (heaven help me because tomorrow is tax free weekend here in Mass so everyone's bound to go out to buy as much as possible without having to pay tax). On Sunday, if all goes well and I survive the IKEA trip, I intended to drive to Gloucester, MA and spend a day at the beach, just lie there and read a book, listen to some music and relax by the seaside. It's supposed to only be an hour away so we shall see!

All in all, life's good and I shall try to get back to writing more often and posting to my Photo Blog as soon as I've got a proper desk to sit at here! :-)