The Real World: Meetings

I haven't attended many meetings in my tenure at SI. In fact, the only times I've congregated to discuss business with my colleagues have been either during team meetings or times of great projects. However, I've been informed recently that there will be more meetings in my future. That's right, my fellow Assistant Gift Registrar and I are going to be incorporated into more meetings about gift recording during the coming months as we wrap up one fiscal year and start another. I'm not sure how I feel about this. On one hand, it's nice to see that my superiors are entrusting me with greater responsibility. On the other hand, I don't like meetings. They stress me out. Okay, not always. They don't stress me out when I'm just taking minutes or doing some sort of skit...yeah, that's only in my dreams. This afternoon I will attend my third meeting of the week. This is highly unusual. I haven't been able to dine with my Lunch Bunch (named by a colleague, not by me) since Monday! Sadness ensues. Oh well, with greater responsibility will hopefully come greater salary. :) Fingers crossed? I'll keep you posted.

I found out today that my mentor dropped out of the pilot program at work. Sadness ensues. I hadn't met her yet, but I had Googled her and she was pretty impressive. So the coordinator sent me a bio for another possible mentor and I told her it would work. This guy is a writer/editor at Air & Space and he sounds super groovy. Aces! We'll see. Wish me luck. This whole program is designed to foster pan-institutional cooperation, professional development, career networking and good relationships between young professionals and the more seasoned ladies and gents of SI. I'm excited to be paired with a writer/editor. I hope I learn a lot. Of course, this switch up so late in the game (well, in the planning phase of the game) makes me a bit anxious. What if we don't get along? What if I'm a bad mentee? What if he has nothing good to teach me about life, work and the pursuit of happiness? Yipes!

Tuesday was a good day because I met with almost all the other mentees for our informational meeting regarding this mentoring program. The best part of the meeting was the introduction part. We all introduced ourselves (shocking!) and told everyone why we'd signed up for the program and things we liked to do in our free time. I could start a band. Someone plays cello, someone plays drums, some people sing, and I think someone said she played the piano or something. But all the mentees wanted to learn more about the institution and just increase their suitability for career upward movement. The atmosphere was charged with hope, possibility, excitement...and a wee bit of awkwardness cause no one really knew anyone else. Stranger danger. Just kidding.

So our full mentee AND mentor kickoff is this coming Tuesday. I'll let you know how it goes.

Hmmm, turns out the mentor program update wasn't as short as I'd planned. Anyhoo, maybe I'll start keeping a tally of how many meetings I attend. You know what? I don't think they're even going to serve me food. At least at my old job in Tulsa there were always snacks at meetings. And I was allowed to eat them! And eat them I did. Pause for the happy memory of me eating during a meeting. Sigh. Oh well. I will get back to work and leave you with a happy memory from my weekend with Mom.