first week miscellany

So the first week wasn't so stellar. It got better towards the end, though (sort of)...so I have hope for the future. We'll see. Something that bothers me, though, is that chatting and music aren't allowed in the office. Chatting I can kind of understand, but music?!!? Supposedly it will interfere with your concentration. WILL it?? I mean, at this point I am basically just playing with ACAD a lot, so I don't really see how listening to music on my headphones is going to interfere with anything I'm doing. I guess if you have to do a lot of talking with clients and contractors it might get distracting. I'm not at that stage yet, though.

Other than work - I just finished reading The Farthest Shore. I actually hadn't read any of Ursula Le Guin's books before, so I am now chugging through the Earthsea Cycle as fast as I am able. I want to be prepared for when the Studio Ghibli film comes out. : ) I should take a closer look at the director's blog...I don't quite think the film is going to be based on Tales from Earthsea (the collection of Earthsea-based stories), but rather on Ged's adventures in Earthsea, which would be the first few books in the series. Yes, not sure how it's going to work. And I am going to stop writing about this now.

Anyway my parents are back in the US right now. My dad brought this Chinese soap opera series back with him on VCD, and now he and my mom have succumbed to its evil influence. They sit in front of the TV day in, day out and watch this crazy 18th~19th century Chinese family drama play out. I feel like the single parent of two very wayward, disobedient children who won't rip their eyes away from the TV. Except I can't really reprimand them, and so I just go to bed long before they do and wonder where they get this boundless energy.

I just came to a realization the other day that every time I switch a job, I go through this horrible money-spending phase. Why is that? I was surfing online the other day and literally had to force myself to close a bunch of windows opened to various shopping sites, fortunately before I had the chance to punch the "SUBMIT" buttons which would have billed my credit card (conveniently saved in their treacherous databases). I am still tempted to go back. I am pretty sure my browser saved cookies and my Shopping Carts/Bags will still have the items I chose in them. Isn't that horrible?! It's like the internet is conspiring against me and my bank account. Oh also the bars in SF. I am starting to develop a taste for cheap beer (thanks Sam, damn you). My friends the beer elitists all frown at me while I put away bottles of Bud Light and Coors. If this continues, I will soon have a beer belly and then there will be no hope of ever escaping from Muffin-Style experiences with my jeans.

Sigh.