Which sounds more profound: a 180 or full circle?

A LOT has changed for me since I first got this job, dates, living arrangements, friends, etc. When I first interviewed for this job, I thought I did so poorly that I left here ready to be sick. Thankfully I was wrong about that, though the stories I’ve since heard about the discussions prior to my hiring do make me laugh. I had already met my future boss about a month or so prior, the other gay on the team was excited to have “another one of us” around, and my personal website was far from compliant to the standards expected on the job. However I did already have 7 years of experience with gov’t contracting and most of that in web development. I shouldn’t have been worried, but interviews do that to ya.

Since then I’ve really grown into the position which has also grown beyond what I thought I’d be doing. I work with a great team, the kind of people that I’d be happy to grab a drink with after work or hang out with on the weekend. More recently, I’ve gotten a lot more responsibility than I’ve had in previous jobs and now with my manager out to take care of her (absolutely adorable) newborn son, I’m in charge. I didn’t think I’d like it, actually I was 100% sure I’d hate it but it’s growing on me. In the past week or two I’ve gotten a lot of compliments from people that are under no obligation to kiss my ass, just to let me know that I’m doing a good job and things are going smoothly.

Today I got the results of my most recent performance appraisal. Anyone that chats with me knows I hate these things. I don’t care to fill out a bunch of forms that reiterate what I do, or what I’d like to do, or what my strengths and weaknesses are. I’d just rather sit down with my boss once a year and hear, “You’ve still got a job, go back to your desk.” But HR must be appeased so we do it. Well this year I got a raise… and a promotion and the combination of those two resulted in quite a nice increase in gross salary. I was having a mini freakout at my desk for a while but it’s sinking in. I think this calls for a celebration.