>Two interesting developments in my professional life: I was issued a corporate credit card AND I was given a business card with my name on it and everything. (Is it weird, by the way, that even with this spiffy “real” job, I still feel like a kid in a grown-up world? I always sort of thought I’d hit an age where I would feel….older. Grown-up. Fully adult. Where I’d emerge, phoenix-like, from my uncomfortable adolescence and suddenly have better clothes, hair, and skin, and a sharp, professional persona. It occurs to me that I’ll be 30 in a couple of years and this phoenix-phase hasn’t happened yet. But I digress.)

Anyways, so yes, I have a corporate Amex. Which really means nothing but looks sophisticated sitting in my wallet. It means I can take business lunches with important clients – that is to say, I could take business lunches with important clients if I had any, which I don’t. It also means that when I travel for work, which happens about once a year, I can charge it myself without having to beg a senior executive for their card to expense my flight. Exciting. For me, the corporate Amex really signifies a trust that I’ve never had from an employer. Up until now, I’ve only ever worked for companies who assume that I am a thief who just hasn’t been caught yet (submitting myself to bag checks, being told I can’t enter the premises after a certain time, having to log every minute I spend not working, having someone double count everything I do, etc etc). Microsoft not only lets me come and go as I choose, but gives me a credit card to fund my comings and goings (to a limited but still interesting extent). It’s nice to be considered trustworthy.

Somewhat less thrilling is the business card. Here, I have to admit I was a little disappointed. I had always envisioned my first business card to be…well cool. This one isn’t. I mean, it says my name on it and my important sounding position, but it’s not cool. I don’t know how to explain it. I mean, what was I expecting? 3D holograms or dancing girls to just pop out of it? I don’t know. Still, I can leave “my card” places, which I’m going to do, randomly, just to confuse people.

I’m not sure why I thought I’d share this with the blogosphere, but whatever. Off to work now – a billion pointless emails to answer and some leftover cake (oh office parties) to munch on.

-ezmy