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I N  T H E  N I G H T  K I T C H E N

Blue skies are continuing throughout the weekend says the forecaster. Fall can be like that in Oregon. Just when you think it's all over the summer comes back more beautiful than ever for a last call.

It's 2 o'clock and I have done nothing but eat breakfast, nap and shower. Time to get things going.

1:59 PM link

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The day feels really weird. It's once-again painfully gorgeous outside. I spent my morning at a photo shoot hanging around and getting a lay of the land. I don't think there's going to be any photo shoots in my near future but you never know. It was a learning experience. Kind of strange as T. and I were laying in bed last night talking about what we thought we would be doing at this age and what we expected certain things to be like. I hoped I would be a photographer and probably end up doing photo shoots a la Annie Liebovitz. Although I loved photojournalism, I figured there was more opportunity for the latter. Today, looking through this freelance photographer's very cool studio I was taken aback. It would have taken me a long time to get there.

Kind of an odd coincidence with the photographer... I met him at an Elvis party several months ago. The Elvis party was at the house of a guy whose office I sat in when I temped the first month that I got here. He didn't remember me, of course. I was at this party with a guy who was leaving Portland to help our company start a San Francisco office. He quit or got fired and I've never heard from him since. The photographer had a pop-gun at this party and spent a significant amount of his time screaming, "Whoo-hoooooo" and shooting his pop-gun into the air. When I was introduced to him this morning I mentioned the Elvis party and he laughed and fetched his pop-gun and did an impromptu reenactment. This is such a small town.

He seems like a great photographer. We saw a few of the things he was shooting for an ad campaign that were really amazing and beautiful. He was talking about traveling to Africa to shoot for another client. That is the kind of life I really thought I wanted. Actually, I'd leap at the chance for that kind of life but photography isn't really where I'm at right now.

Did I mention that T. is switching jobs? Today is his last day and he's starting as a writer at one of the other web/creative agencies in town. My sphere of influence keeps closing in. Pretty soon I'll have the sense that I know everyone in this scene.

Last night, he and I went to an art exhibition at Paris France, Inc. A friend of mine works there. Very cool girl, I thoroughly enjoy talking with her. She granted me an informational interview last spring and really helped me focus on where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do. I think she's got kickass skills.

Afterwards, we went to the Steak & Chophouse and stuffed ourselves silly to celebrate T.'s new employment. It was a really great night. We talked about wonderful stuff well into the night. I'm a lucky girl.


3:00 PM link

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Mike and Eric from former company are coming to have lunch with me at my new office. I'm strangely giddy. It feels like kindergarten open house.

I brought in some stuff to decorate my area -- a pseudo-industrialist cube. It's not a bad workspace but I do miss my last one. It was much more open and I didn't have people coming up behind me all the time. My monitor faces out. Some people have switched theirs around which requires them to sit at a funny angle. I don't want to do that. I hate having my back to others though. Nothing but my big head to prevent others from seeing what I'm really up to over here on my giant, honking monitor. I think I might install a rear-view mirror.

I feel silly about decorating my space. Maybe if I wasn't so on-display it wouldn't be so bad. I have this massive three-part poster of a chainsaw. I never got it put up at my last job so I'd like to put it up here but I can't figure out where. Maybe I should come in after-hours to do this stuff. That's what I did at my last job when I took everything down. I couldn't bear to clear out my desk in front of everyone.

I really miss my former coworkers. There are some really great people over there. So far, though, this job is living up to my expectations. I'm still really bored for want of work but everything that I've been involved with so far has been highly creative and enjoyable. Last night, some people from the Big Fish (Big Fish ate Small Fish [my company] sometime this last spring forming what will be known to you as Company X) came over and we had a massive catered buffet and beer and wine and watched this video that one of the producers whipped up. It was really hilarious and good. Surprisingly good. There were some wonderfully theatrical moments in there. I was impressed. I like that this stuff goes on here.

Tonight I'm going to an art show at one of the creative agencies here in town. A friend of mine who clued me into the work atmosphere at my new job works there. Martinis and paintings at six. The little art scene here is remarkably cute. Don't come to Portland -- you'll never want to leave.

9:29 AM link

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Still sick. Feeling a mite better though.

Taking yesterday off was a good idea. I did, however, make my dentist appointment for that afternoon. I was in the chair for an hour and a half. All worth it.

I got some sealants put on my teeth where I had some yucky spots but no cavities. One small cavity filled and my front tooth whitened. None of it was painful at all. When the dentist said he was going to fill one tooth I was worried but it didn't hurt one bit. What did hurt was my neck from lying there so long.

My front tooth has been one in a series of bodily irritations which I can now scratch off my list of things to fix. Half of my left front tooth is fake. I broke it during a rousing game of hide and seek during recess in the fourth grade. Home base was a basketball pole surrounded by a scattering of loose gravel. You can see where this is going.

So, I've had this partially fake tooth for over half my life and it had turned ever-so-slightly brown. Ugh. I hated it. I started noticing it in every picture and I was beginning to smile a bit weirdly in an unconscious effort to spare the word the hideousness of my tooth. Whenever I have brought it up, most people say they had never noticed or that they had noticed but that it wasn't overly noticeable. Whatever -- it's white now! Yea! I'm so excited. I can't believe it took so long. Granted there was some small amount of procrastination but by and large, I couldn't afford to have it done. I think either our insurance in L.A. was really crappy or we happened to pick crappy doctors. Either way the situation down there sucked.

The dentist I went to was a complete ass. I told him that I had some decay and probably needed some sealants as I had been through that before. He said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "Oh really, Doctor? And, why do you think that?" I told him, because I can see it, you ass. Okay, I didn't say the "you ass" part but I should have. After he took at least a dozen x-rays (I've never had that many x-rays before or since), he recommended that I have a "deep cleaning" for $300 which would clean above my gums. No way. I didn't do it. Not only could I not afford it, I just didn't think it was that dire. He also said that to fix my front tooth would be at least that much and because it was cosmetic that I would have to pay for all of it.

My new dentist says that I have very nice teeth. He wrote on my little chart: "good home care." He says that just because it looks funny doesn't necessarily mean that it is cosmetic. I paid half. He also didn't charge me for the sealants. All in all, this must be my favorite dentist experience ever. They didn't gouge me for cost. He and his assistants are extremely gentle, funny, sweet and praise my teeth. It makes me just want to go home and brush and floss so that they'll be impressed with me the next time! I'm almost looking forward to my next experience.

Just stay away from the dentist in Santa Monica in the Tower Records building. He's an ass.

10:09 AM link

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I'm sick today... still. Was sick all weekend. I went to work yesterday and sort of suffered through the day. I got very little sleep last night. I'm not sure why. At first I was jumping at every little sound the house was making and thinking up all sorts of evil thoughts about being hacked to death by some mad stalker in my sleep. Eventually I settled down but just couldn't stay asleep. The cat was also pissing me off by running around the house chasing his own little phantoms until after two in the morning. Evil cat.

So, I woke up this morning, made a horrifying *snork* sound and called the office to let them know I wasn't coming in. I don't feel too bad about it since I really have nothing to do. I'm on a project but we're in a lull and my task on it is done for the moment.

Supposedly, there is work on the horizon and more than I'll know what to do with. I can't wait. I feel like a doorstop.



1:00 PM link

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Cooking.

I'm not so good at it.

Tonight, I grilled. Rib-eye which I picked out from the meat counter -- yumm and mixed veggies which I chose fresh. T. does most of the grilling around here... and the cooking for that matter. He's a pretty good cook. He's not as apt to cook new meals as he is to cook the ones that he really likes and is good at. This is okay.

But, tonight I grilled. By myself. It was somewhat of a success. The meat was actually edible though I nearly burned the crap out of one side. I was fearful that it wouldn't be done enough. It smoked like mad. It was good though. The cat liked the little bits I gave him, too. He's such a beggar.

T. is out camping tonight. He left Saturday morning while I was in the fetal position on the couch with cramps and a cold. Not a good combination that. He was a sweetie though and went out for Midol (I've never used that before) and Contact cold medicine. He was heading way out to Eastern Oregon. However, he came back on Sunday because it was raining too hard out there to camp.

It rained tremendously on Saturday night here. In fact, I had to couch one of our windows (in the laundry room thankfully) in towles as the widow and molding were leaking like mad. The cat didn't like that one bit and meowed plaintively at each drop that fell. I slept awful -- a mix of feeling not-so-good, hearing the rain drip-drop inside and T. being gone.

I went to work today. I probably shouldn't have. I left just a little bit early because I had nothing to do and felt like ass. It was good to be at work today, though, as there was a bunch of meetings. I did feel like a zombie, though. I think the meds had something to do with it.

The new job is going slow. Too slow. I'm on a project to redesign the company site which I think must be evil karma for my personal hell regarding my last company's site redesign. Supposedly, OakTree's site is going live sometime soon. I don't like the design. But, that is okay because I didn't have to do it. When it finally came down to the project and the mess and the politics, I wanted nothing to do with it.

Everybody at X (as the current company shall be called) is very cool. Well, almost everybody. I mean, I don't know everybody yet and I definitely have only worked with a tiny little handful on this new project at this point so it's hard to say. I feel like I keep involuntarily butting heads with this one person and I can't figure out why. I hope it isn't ongoing. I'm trying hard to be The Good Employee without personality conflicts. We'll see how that goes...




12:27 PM link

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