working for the weekend
september 21, 2002
i'm going to take a short break from the hawaii stuff to post about other things that happened recently but don't fret, i'll go back to our hawaii program shortly. :p first and foremost, thanks to everyone for their supportive emails re: me going back to work. i suppose going back to work is the true symbol of my health improving. and so far, i've been holding up well even though the stresses at work are really getting to me. but i'm trying to maintain my part by working out daily, taking vitamins and eating well and drinking at least 64 ounces of h20 every day [but damn, i gotta pee a lot]. :p
after a two year plus hiatus, it actually feels pretty good to be in the workforce again. although i do wake up every morning pining for that extra hour of sleep i so need. but i guess nothing is better than having income to pay the bills, having the flexibility of buying things you like, spending money freely. i guess what it comes down to is the peace of mind one has. the big cons about working must be the time you take away from your own personal life and making do with what you can accompish with the time you do have.
in the past, i never revealed where i worked on my website and i won't begin to do so now. but it is a medium sized company that is in the computer industry. however, i'm not doing anything related to IT, web or the like. what i am doing is something totally new to me and so that is not only refreshing for a change but also a challenge. the job duties are very intense and there's always daily deadlines and a sense of urgency. i wonder to myself when i'll get an ulcer. the good thing is that my boss is not a micro manager [thank god] and so i don't have someone breathing down my neck watching what i do all the time. the downside is my cubicle, which is located right outside his office -- so i rarely have time to sneak in a blog or reply to emails. maybe later when i have more downtime. oh wait, he's out all next week! }:D
back in august, i only had two full days of training with the person who left. in one sentence: she was a very very poor instructor. she's the kind of person who hoarded all the job duties just to have job security. i guess in her mind, the company can't fire her if she's so invaluable. old school thinking i say. but fuck, she left in the end didn't she? this lady who trained me was in her early 50's and from the deep south. she was aggro as hell and blew every little thing out of proportion. i mean, losing a pen cap was a fucking calamity. and her desk was a war zone. if you know me, you know i am an organizational freak -- so stacking papers everywhere and having things strewn across the desk is not my method of working with a clear mind.
but i endured. and for those 2 full days (which were split up into 4 half days), i took in whatever she could dish out even though her demeanor was less than satisfactory. but i overheard her on one phone conversation to say, "i don't know why that is wrong. maybe there was some communication errors with that girl (another coworker in the company). she's oriental and probably misunderstood."
::insert eye roll here::
i notice that white folks from the deep south always use 'orientals' -- which i term more affectionately as 'ornamentals' -- and it's something that i've come across with several people from texas, louisiana etc. is this how we're referred to down there? but the main point is, even if she was 'oriental', why would there be a communication error based solely on her ethnicity?
fucking backwards thinking baak laap saap.
anyway, work is going well and i've already met with the CEO to go over things i see that could be improved on in the process and my boss already has given me accolades and shown faith (to my surprise since hardly any of my previous bosses ever said nice things directly to their subordinates) for the work i've produced thus far and for cleaning up (and am still cleaning) all the goddamn messes that the deep south bitch fucked up on.
i knew this wasn't going to be an easy job going in. but let's hope it gets better as the days wear on. more work tales to share in the near future.
the photos shown here are from a birthday dinner i went to last friday night in pasadena at a restaurant called saladang song. saladang song is the sister restaurant to saladang, located right next door, which i've been to previously but this is my first time to the song one. :p i had no idea that half of the seating were outdoors and so that's where we ended up at in my flimsy tank top freezing my ass off. but it's all good because we were there to celebrate my friend, A's birthday.
being that it was outdoors in the dark, i wasn't too excited to take photos of the food which came in rapid fire succession. so i just caught a bit of the scenery around me for visual purposes. saladang song is a thai restaurant but the only people who were thai were the workers there. all the patrons were either chinese or caucasians. hmmmmm? the food wasn't bad, especially their special of the day, seafood curry but the prices were a bit steep and the service was horrible. some of the attitude exhibited by some of the thai waitresses were just inexcusable. but hey, it's LA and you come across this rather frequently. personally, it's a good place to take a date or for a small dinner with friends but for real thai food at better prices i can think of other places to go to. but to give them credit, their decor (see photo 2) was nice with high fortressed walls mixed with ornate iron moldings and open air ceilings with tall palm trees.
bring a sweater if you're going and be prepared for the horrible parking especially on the weekends. :p
saladang
song
383 s. fair oaks ave.
pasadena, ca 91105
626.793.5200
A is especially happy this year because he has a gf now. :x
don't forget, tonight is the autumn moon/harvest moon festival. go get your mooncakes before they are all gone!!! and be sure to check out the moon too. ;) we got ours from kee wah bakery, exactly like the first two tins shown above. i don't like mooncakes though, only the crust. i'm weird.
ok, i'm off to the spa thing now. it's going to be a loooonnnggg weekend. maybe an update tomorrow. ;)
