ello, munchkins. Im typing this at work, which means the evil spelling/grammar checker automatically marks anything it doesnt get with little red and green squiggles, which really tempts me to use a lot of words and constructions it wont understand. Im resisting the urge for now.
Yesterday was miserable. Id whine about it in detail, except that I already called Kevin and subjected him to the whole saga. The short version is that I only spent 6.5 hours at work yesterday, and I spent 5.0 hours commuting. Coming home yesterday I had to: walk 20 minutes, uphill all the way (okay, yes it was a gentle slope, but still), take a train, a bus, a subway, another bus, another bus after that, and then walk four blocks, again uphill.
That was the short version.
Its a good thing Im fond of Dr. Martin Luther King, cause otherwise Id be pretty darn irritated with him. Half the buses werent running yesterday. Yick.
(It doesnt know yick. Silly spellchecker).
Im fighting exhaustion right now, and the urge to just stuff my face silly. I dont know where I picked up the idea that food would always make me feel better, but its probably responsible for the extra ten pounds I picked up in the last year, which is just not acceptable. I started sit-ups again. Well see how long they last. My enthusiasm for exercise rarely lasts very long.
Anyway, overall things are okay, but this commute is exhausting. Ill do it for a few weeks, and then Im hunting for a more local temp job.
So, Shmuel has his journal up and running. Im not positive its okay to give out the URL yet, so I wont. Hey, Shmuel; holler when its okay. (The program insists on converting my double dashes to em dashes, which Id just have to convert back when I got back to ASCII. So Im not using any dashes today. Irritating.)
Okay, I just fixed my registration for the UC Berkeley classes. I dont remember telling you what I was taking. Ill be attempting C++ Programming (which they say requires some C background which Kev seems confident that I either have or can pick up which I am somewhat dubious about) and Advanced Technical Writing (which also sounds rather intimidating, but what the heck). (Darn thing converts my ellipses too. No fun formatting today!)
I know, Im just babbling. This is what happens when you write journal entries at work, in between waiting for people to call you back. They end up incoherent and disjointed. Not like the elegant themed compositions that Columbine whips up. Id whine some more about not knowing why yall bother reading this (and hey, three more people wrote in saying theyve been reading this from the beginning, which is just amazing), except that I think you might start hitting me.
What I really want to do is start working on my new sf story, but I forgot to bring the research that Jed brought me to work with me today. And Im not sure its such a good idea to try to write a story in between phone calls anyway. The critique of The Gardener on Sunday went reasonably well, although nobody liked it quite as much as Jed did, which is too bad. But Susan liked it quite a lot, and I love her writing, so that was nice. Im not quite sure what to do with it at this point. There were a lot of points of confusion for many of the readers, that I think can be easily fixed, but Im a bit wary about futzing with it too much, since its a highly stylized piece, and I might mess up the voice. Well see.
Okay, hours later. It got busy for a while, but its slowed down. Id tell you about what Im doing, but Im not sure theres any way to make simple clerical tasks sound interesting. I do wish to note that I HATE trying to schedule meetings with several overly busy people. On the other hand, people do seem to work at this company, which is nice. Over time, you feel like youre actually accomplishing something. On the third hand, its a pharmaceutical company, and Im working in Medical Affairs, organizing drug studies, which you would think would be a good thing, except yall do know how profit-driven a lot of this is, yes? It makes one a little nervous about the actual quality of the studies, etc. This company so far seems reasonably thorough and honest about it; of course, Ive only been working here since Thursday, so I wouldnt swear to anything.
Tell me again why Im doing this sort of thing? I have a higher degree than my boss!
Okay okay. I know why. I needed money in a hurry, and they pay surprisingly well considering the lack of complexity of what Im doing. On the other hand, they do expect me to be professional, competent, and able to work on my own without a lot of direct supervision, so perhaps you have to pay extra for that. Dont ask me. Gods. Sometimes I really wish I enjoyed this sort of thing more. If I could be happy being an executive assistant, Id be set for life. Im an excellent executive assistant. This is one job I know how to do really well.
Im halfway through the third page of this journal entry, and I really have no urge to stop typing, but I think maybe I better just declare this done and send it off, since lord knows what Ill start saying if I just keep rambling like this. I hope youre all in jobs that fully utilize all of your intelligence and talents, and that youre very happy and fulfilled in them. (I should note that three other secretaries Ive met here have advanced degrees. This is a very weird trend.)