No, it's not a romantic anniversary. It's not the anniversary of this blog. (I haven't even had this half a year, yet!) Today is much more special to me. Today is the anniversary of the day I got hired on the spot, exactly one year ago, as a tour guide at Sarah Winchester's "beautiful but bizarre" 160-room Victorian Mansion! Look at that beautiful old thing - I get to work there! All the time!
I'd been a little in love with the Winchester Mystery House ever since I first moved to San Jose, but it actually wasn't my first thought when I lost my last job to apply here. I'd fallen into a depressive spell last spring and I was unemployed for a couple of months. I had actually just come from a not-so-great interview at Orchard Supply Hardware (look, I was going through some stuff, alright?) and decided to treat myself to lunch in Santana Row across the street, and decided to go take a few photos out in the garden. And I guess I just decided, hey, nothing ventured nothing gained, right? So I picked up an application. (I also applied to the Rosicrucian Museum, but Winchester pays me, the Rosicrucian is an unpaid internship.)
In my journal, on 16 April 2015, what I wrote was "I got hired as a tour guide at the Winchester Mystery House! I'm so very excited to work in a place with such historical value, to share my passion for history with countless visitors, to get my foot in the museum door. (Working somewhere certified haunted is kinda awesome too.) A one-hour script is a little intimidating but overall I'm mostly just super excited. My orientation is Sunday. Wow!!!"
I never could have imagined how much my life would change between then and now. That sounds melodramatic, but it's true. I feel very attached to Sarah Winchester as a historical figure (as I've made abundantly clear on this blog) and to my coworkers. I mean in my old job, I never would have considered making friends with my coworkers. Last night I took part in a Nerf gun war with some of the other tour guides and gift shop cashiers!
I may be the only one who cares about this anniversary, but I can't make it clear enough how much this job means to me. It's one of the things I'm going to miss most about California, and it'll be hard to leave behind. I genuinely wish I could somehow move to New York and then teleport back to San Jose each day to continue working here (and somehow make enough to live in New York).
At the same time... I never could have predicted when I lost my last job that this is where I'd be now. And so I don't know what's coming. I can't imagine how much is going to change between now and 16 April of next year.
Today was a good day, too. Not too stressful, the weather was nice. My tour guests were nice and my coworkers all congratulated me when I told them the news. One more month before I can get my 13th month pin~! I'm happy. That may change, too. In fact, it inevitably will. But for now, because of this beloved job of mine, I am. I'm happy.
-Nym-
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