So this is who I am...

Today was my third day on the job, and for the first time, I actually felt it. I was on the phone with my dad discussing cotton yarn count, and it hit me: hey, look at me, I'm really doing this! And unexpectedly, the feeling of settling in, that twinge of belonging, was quite pleasant.

I spent most of the day sitting in on one of our training/orientation seminars for our salesladies. I felt like Ms. Sia or Mrs. Liamzon observing a class. I took a lot of notes, and by the end of the session, I was positively bursting with ideas for improving our training program. It's terrific that the teacher in me still has an outlet in this line of work.

My mom is both puzzled and amused by my seemingly sudden interest in HR development, and I can't blame her; her daughter isn't exactly the friendliest of people. Heck, if someone had told me 3, 4 years ago that I would be raring to handle HR, I would have snorted in derision. I've never thought of myself as a *ugh* "people person," but apparently, some part of me is... which had probably been buried deep down alongside the part of me that my students call "patient," "cheerful," and *double ugh* "sweet." (I can hear my high school and college friends laughing their asses off.) I guess my teaching stint was the catalyst that made these alien aspects of Ailee surface. It's nice to know that after 24 years, I'm still unearthing strange, surprising, and sometimes disturbing bits of me. I wonder what else is down there.