New and Weird

So, I started a new job yesterday.
It's kinda strange to think that I'm starting back at square one in my professional life. My job at Crossings was (for the most part) a dream. I was always surrounded by people that love Jesus and love each other. I was on top of my game there...I could do that job in my sleep, with one hand tied behind my back. I was a friggen' pro y'all. Is that my own horn I hear tooting? Oh wait, sorry. No but really. I loved my job and felt like I had finally "mastered" it. So the logical thing to do was leave, right? Well yes and no. In an effort to face life head-on as a newly single woman, I had to swallow a tough pill: I couldn't survive (financially) on my own in the real world. (Real world: The painful reality of life's troubles and expenses...without the support of two incomes.) So, I put my feelers out to see what was available, and a great new job just...happened.

So, yesterday was my first day. The day was full of new names and faces, as well as some extensive, totally yawn-worthy reading on the history of the Oil Field and the great company I have joined.
I had lunch with my new boss, Ryan. He is a really nice man who is happily married and expecting his first child! Strange for me, because I've never worked for anyone who wasn't old enough to be my parent. So while I'm adjusting to the fact that my boss is the same age as my big brother, he swings by my desk and asks where I'd like to go for lunch. Say what? You and me? Alone? Will we get in trouble? Isn't there some policy against that?

Nope. Welcome to the corporate world, Rach.

So we went to Pearls, where I had fetuccini alfredo with shrimp. Yum.
Until about 4:30pm...when it was suddenly not-so-yum.

At about that time, I had a hot flash (of sorts) and suddenly felt like I was going to lose my lunch. Typically, I am one to fight it off. I'll do whatever it takes to avoid throwing up. But yesterday, I instantly thought, "I will feel much better if I just do it." So I walked to the bathroom, peed (because we all know what happens if you have the pee and throw up, and you choose to throw up first...), and then I pulled my hair back and prepared myself. Nothing happened. Within a couple of minutes, the feeling went away and I felt okay. But as soon as I pushed open the bathroom door to walk back to my desk, I suddenly felt completely disoriented. For a brief moment I was scared, because I had no idea where I was or what I was supposed to be doing. It didn't take me but a few seconds to figure that part out...I was at work. So I walked back to my desk, sat down, and had a near panic attack because I couldn't remember anything that had happened that day, up until that point. I couldn't remember any of the 2432954 people I was introduced to yesterday, not even my new friend Lexi. I didn't even remember my boss' name.

Oh. Snap. Am I dead?

Thankfully it was nearly 5:00pm at this point, and pretty much time for me to go home for the day. If I weren't on the phone with my mom for the entire drive, I honestly don't know if I could've found my way home. I was that disoriented. After a few hours of complete and totall wigging out, I let my sister-in-law drive me to an after hours clinic, who just forwarded me on to the ER. An hour and a finger prick later...ouch...I was headed home with no explanation. I have self-diagnosed myself with two things: (1) bad shrimp at lunch. It has mercury in it, which sometimes can cause a bit of amnesia. And (2) stress. I had an incredibly stressful last 2 1/2 weeks at my previous job, and then my first day at the new job was incredibly low-key and boring. So my body just said "Whuuuuuuut?"

But I'm fine now. I feel okay, and have done a pretty decent job of remembering things that I thought were completely gone from my brain. Yesterday is still a bit of a fog, but if I work really hard I can remember most of it. Except for that boring yawn-worthy reading I mentioned earlier. I have no idea what any of that was about. I am just delighted that I now get to read all 17 front-and-back pages of it again.

So, yay. New job, weird day.