Monday, December 23, 2013

Christmas Letter 2013

Dear Friends,

So once again it is time to send out my Christmas letter. This year, as usual, was crazy. After feeling like I was situated with Montefiore, trouble started. I ended up fighting for my job due to extremely poor management and even worse co-workers. In the end, I decided it wasn't worth the 2 hour commute both ways and a hostile work environment. So I quit and chose not to start looking for work for a few months. Instead I headed down to Florida to be with my best friend from college for a week. It was so relaxing down there and something I had desperately needed.

My parents had booked a trip to Greece before all the trouble had started. It was their 30th anniversary, so they took both me and my sister on an all expenses paid trip to Athens, Corinth and the like. So after coming back from Florida, I headed straight to Greece. The food was great, and it was nice being with family.

After Greece, I had many interviews and found this one job in which a couple of business men were looking for a pharmacist to help them start a pharmacy in a mall. I took the job hoping to get away from all the horrible experiences I've had in the past. Since the pharmacy was not scheduled to start until September, I worked per diem for a couple other pharmacies in the mean time.

Alex and I went to GenCon again, and it was most likely the best GenCon we had been to yet. Almost all of our friends came with us and we played awesome games, ate at great restaurants and had a ton of fun. Alex even managed to reconnect with his old D&D group, who's campaign is chronicled in the book “Of Dice and Men.” Alex is even mentioned in the book! We also got to play a Warmachine RPG game with the creator of the RPG as the game master, had all of our friends team up for a game of True Dungeon (a combination of a haunted house and a D&D game) and competed to see which one of our friends could eat a 32oz burger first (part of a menu created specifically for GenCon). I also met up with one of my old Erie, PA friends and it was like nothing had ever changed despite having not seen him in 7 years.

After GenCon I was ready to start the pharmacy, but there were delays. So instead, I headed to the Philippines with Alex to attend his cousin's wedding. After that, we flew to Hong Kong and spent a good chunk of time meeting all the family members that live over there. After a week in Hong Kong, we headed to Mainland China, where we met more family and visited Alex's great grandparent's grave sites. Then it was back to Hong Kong to finish up the trip. It was a crazy trip, but I was happy to have been able to go.

Getting back from China, I learned that plans were once again delayed on the pharmacy and I decided that I had spent too long waiting for this place to open. So I left on good terms with the pharmacy owners, and sent out my resume again. Almost immediately I had a job working 20 hours a week at a pharmacy 20 minutes from my apartment. Plus the pharmacy I had been working per diem for has offered me more hours during the times I'm not working. The pharmacies I work for are very nice and actually seem to like me, which is such a change.

Alex is still working for Hublished, and hopefully by January the company will have paying clients. He's still very happy to work from home.

I don't know what will happen for next year, but I'm glad this year is over.

Love, Jenn and Alex

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