Glad to be back!

 This week, I started my "new" job at the Church History Library.

Most of you know I worked there before, from 2014 to 2017. It has been four years since I worked there. In those four years, I would often pass the CHL and wish I could work there again. In the beginning of 2019 and 2020, and a little bit in 2021, I would go there to do research. 

I am so glad to be back! There have been some changes, but it mostly feels familiar. The stairwell in the Conference Center parking garage still has this smiley stain, which I noticed back in 2014.

This is my favorite job ever. I love the office setting, the work itself, the location, the commute, the hours, and the atmosphere. Basically the only thing I don't like is that I have to wear a tie every day. (This week I met with my supervisor, and he said to me, "One thing: you have to wear a tie every day here," and that was when I realized I forgot to put a tie on that morning!)

I will be juggling several assignments, and I don't know if it's appropriate to put my projects here on the internet. But most of my work this week has been reading nineteenth-century documents, looking for things to include in a future publication. I know history degrees are the most stereotypically useless degrees, so I feel incredibly blessed that I get to look through historical documents—and get paid for it!

Working in history gives me ambivalent feelings about teaching cursive in school. I think reading cursive is a valuable skill, but I hope no one ever writes in it again, because it is so much harder to read. 

My goal for the semester (well, as long as is necessary) is to work on my portfolio for an hour and a half each day. There are three components I need to finish for my portfolio, so that gives me thirty minutes on each portion. I have kept the goal this week, and that means I don't have much free time. But at the moment, it's just as well. It's dark and smoggy, and COVID numbers are insane, so there's not much better for me to do than just stay home and work on school stuff. Hopefully once trail season resumes, I will be farther along on my portfolio.

I am excited to see what this next year brings!